


Misfit Misadventures

by DigiConjurer



Series: A Misfit Collection [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 26,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigiConjurer/pseuds/DigiConjurer
Summary: A collection of side stories from a Dungeons and Dragon Campaign I've been running with some friends.





	1. Meet our Heroes

We come upon a large plain in the middle of a wonderful place known as… Ebyssia. While quite peaceful, small conflicts have a tendency of breaking out.

In this particular case, we come across a large group of adventurers taking on a group of individuals dressed in cloaks with plain masks over their faces.

Known as Distant Harmony, they are intent on destroying Ebyssia and its inhabitants so they can create a supposedly better version of this world. 

Which brings us to our heroes.

A priest is barking orders, heavy mace in hand. Blessed in Pelor's light, Rune had a tendency to get on the deity's bad side.

“Hold still, Toko.” Rune mutters, trying his best to bless his co-worker/’friend’.  The titular Toko appears to be a fighter, with a large halberd. For as strong as he was, there were some mental scars. Not that he really showed it.

Once all revved up, he charged forth and is joined by Quilk the half-orc. By no means the golden pillar of good, he made short work of anyone Distant Harmony threw the party’s way. Of course, the party’s other tank, Samuel was meditating in the back. Once he was all done with that, he charged past the two to deliver a series of stunning blows.

Up above, a purple wyvern soars through the air, its passenger a young elven girl that dresses like a princess but is not a princess. Her name is Whip. She a warlock/dragonkith. Yes, you read that right. So what if they maybe get ‘one’ sorcerer spell. That shouldn’t stop them from all the meager benefits the class gets.

Of course, that didn’t explain why there was a halfling with a gun that fires lodestones.

“You still in there, Cherra?” Whip called out.

Cherra flashed a thumbs-up and carefully aimed her gun, firing it right after into a bolt of energy from our resident sorcerer, Kril. Yes, that’s his name. Don’t blame me. He’s being backed up by his ‘friend’ Mae. Who might not like him and want him dead or something. Heck if I know.

While that was happening, the party’s two rogues, Fae the elf and MeeMee the slimegirl 'thing' respectively were being… rogues, pretty much. Though, does using a pair of animated cat plushies to stab stuff the same as stealthily shooting people with a crossbow? Maybe.

Oh yeah. There’s a church there as well, with a couple of dogs in there as well.

“Hi there!” the church announces. “I’m a church!”

Why yes you are, Church-kun.

Church-kun I guess blushes, only for his table door to swing open and a succubus pops her head out. For some reason, she’s carrying a weird collapsible bow. That she fires without really taking the time to be certain that she’s actually going to hit something. She did for the record. Oh right. I should probably introduce her as well.

That would be Crimson… Heart, I believe. Though, I think that last name is her girlfriend’s or something. Considering said girlfriend is now a goddess or something, I believe she’s fine with it.

There’s also a bunch of other side characters, just let me shift the camera to the right.

The imaginary camera you’re viewing this all through, revealing an older guy and a weirdly dressed warforged. And that’s on top of an archfey, who is most likely the deity referenced earlier.

“We’re here as well.”

A bunch of gods as well. Too many to really list off and stuff. Especially since they all get handled individually. Maybe.

Oh right. Then there is me, the narrator of all this. While they’re a rough bunch, it’s quite a lot of fun. Much like the tales you’ll find inside of he-

“Wait!”

The camera swivels back around, revealing a woman dressed in an orange and blue jester costume with a matching court jester hat.

“You forgot about Jestery!” the woman announces. “How rude. Jestery thought the narrator was better than that!”

Sorry. This is Jestery. She’s a handful.

For real this time, that’s everyone. I hope. Knowing my luck, someone new is bound to show up. But oh well.


	2. Here with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backstory: A lot of these at the start are written a while ago, do enjoy them.
> 
> After beating the wicked deity Yuzi, Crimson takes some time to be with her beloved archfey. Especially since they have to part again.

Compared to Sivella’s home, the single room in the back of Frovia’s dance hall seemed to make it look quite small.

Once serving as Yuzi’s personal suite, it would serve the same purpose for her successor. Of course, it would take some time to get everything moved over and made ‘homey’. Or something like that.

But maybe that was all because this would be her first time in here. For Crimson, it felt… different. Not bad, mind you. Just something that would take some time for the dancer to get used too.

The walls were painted a pastel shade of blue, with the accents being a slightly darker shade. While there had been some furniture at one time, most of it looked to have been smashed into a million pieces. Which is kind of a shame, if you ask me.

What had remained appeared to be a crate of strange-looking dolls and a battered bed. But considering how little they had to begin with, they would probably keep it. For now.

Of course, there was other things on both girl’s minds at the moment.

“Your mask.” Sivella remarked and watched her girlfriend take a deep breath, carefully stripping away the illusion and returning her. “I’m not entirely certain how you managed to keep that on when Yuzi was well being… Yuzi.”

She gave a nod. While the events of earlier seem like a distant memory, the dancer had already gotten used to the change. If anything, it felt like an actual promotion rather than a transfer between deities.

“Yeah…” she answered, trying to remember why she forgot to take it off. Which in retrospect, would've made her one and only successful attack quite a bit more awesome. Along with a chance to look the ice elemental in the eye and throw back all the ‘jokes’ made in her direction. “I guess in the moment, I sorta forgot about it?”

That remark got her a chuckle, especially as Sivella’s attention turned to her outfit.

“Let me fix that.”

What followed, was a slight tap to her dress.

“Much better?”

Crimson gazed down and took in her garment. Gone is the plaster white color, having been replaced with a darker blue. Which I guess sort of fits with the general color scheme the archfey was going with. Even if the white could’ve worked. But it was bit of a stretch.

“I like it.” she whispers and does a little twirl. “Is there anything else I can do for you, I mean your holiness?”

Sivella took a deep breath.

“First off, no ‘your holiness’ when we’re in here.” Sivella answers. “Secondly, I would like you dance for me. It doesn’t have be that long or anything, just like old times sake.”

“Of course.”

Crimson follows it up with a nod and twirls about the room. While no tune seems to play, there seems to be one in her head. Whatever it is, she seems to be enjoying herself.

After, she takes a bow.

“How was that?”

Clapping, followed by a hug.

“Wonderful.” Sivella whispered and digs out a backpack from where she was sitting. She then handed it over. “You’re going in the next couple days, right?”

“Yeah.” Crimson answered as she fitted the backpack on. “If I don’t, who the heck knows what they’ll do. Especially Toko.”

She let out a chuckle after saying that. 

“Like steal barrels of liquor from thin air?”

Crimson does a double take, following it up with a deep breath.

“I thought there wasn't any liquor on this mountain, though.”

Sivella's gaze shifted slightly. 

“It's not common, but usually comes in big batches.” Sivella explained, shifting her position on the bed. “Though, Rune paid for the booze and then proceeded to bash his head in. Eight times.”

Crimson just shakes her head. While Toko in no way looked injured, it was something to keep an eye on.

“Not the oddest thing he has done.” Crimson answers, “He did try to make cockroach stew at one point. I didn’t see a single cockroach in that tunnel. And he somehow manages to find enough to make a stew.”

Sivella’s gaze shifted back towards her.

“How was it?”

For a few brief seconds, Crimson fell silent. 

“Horrible. Somehow, you’re somehow a better cook than he is so far.”

Sivella just chuckles, only to remember something.

“Didn’t I burn down the kitchen that one time?”

Crimson took a deep breath.

“Yes.” she answered and looked towards the ground for a brief second, only to focus back on. “If it helps, the soup was actually quite good.”

Sivella froze up, her face now shining a bright shade of pink. But before she could get another word out, Crimson was heading for the door. 

“Hey…” Sivella whispered, motioning for her dancer to come back over. “Hug, maybe even a kiss?”

At first, she just got a sigh. But then…

“Here you go.” Crimson answered and walked back over, wrapping her arms around the woman she loved. Unlike before, the difference in height was far less noticeable now. It was at most a difference of a couple inches than a couple feet. It was a noticeable difference, one that allowed for the meeting of their lips.

“Best of luck.” Sivella whispered and watched Crimson make her exit. “One day…”

However long it would it be…


	3. Rest in Peace, my daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was introduce the first major 'bad guy' - The Noble. Who didn't last that long. Oh well.

An Orc stands at the edge of Happitown.

While not his preferred place in Ebyssia (that would be a tie between Luxor and Wyvos), it was a major part of his job this time around.

Shovel in hand, he made his way into the wooded compound. There, a single body sat undisturbed. The head was in the worse shape, the result of a greatsword.

“Figures you would be here, laying all alone.”

Carefully, he put her to the side and begun to dig. While the ground here wasn’t the greatest, quick work was made for the burial.

“I had told you to find me if I were to somehow to disappear.” he continues, trying his best to hold back the tears from someone, possibly himself. “Funny how it’s me having to look for you after all those years.”

While the witch was by no mean related to him by blood, that was something that didn’t matter to the orc. Work had made it rare for him to actually see her quite rare, so they communicated through letters and the occasional picture. If they were lucky, maybe a meal from home or an arts and craft project.

But now, there was to be no more presents, no more messages.

“Rest in peace.” he whispers, pushing the body in and got to work filling it back up. After, he stashes the shovel... somewhere, flinging a glowstick at the edge of the forest. Which for some reason, results in a carriage rolling up.

“Where too?” the cockroach inquires, his gaze focusing on a distant light.

“Wyvos.” the orc answers.

“Can I get a name at least?”

The orc takes a deep breath.

“The Noble.” he mutters and sits himself down. If he was lucky, he would get there before them. If not, it was just a matter of keep a low profile.

Either way, he would make them pay.


	4. Waiting for them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're a twelve foot tall church, it's kind of hard to go anywhere.

There were many things that Church-kun didn't quite understand yet.

For starters, why weren't there places that he could fit in without having to shrink part of his body down? Also, if he was supposedly was a cleric, did that mean there were other mimics like it?

But before he had a chance to really think any more about these questions, the dogs jumped her. With love.

“Hey…” he whispered, trying their best not to have the exposed part of their body get knocked over. Of course, the dogs didn’t seem to care. “That tickles…”

After getting the canines off of him, the mimic’s attention remained on them.

“Me should give you names.” Church-kun remarked. While they weren't theirs to begin with, it would seem that the original owners had other priorities at the moment.

“Arf!”

“I'll call you Arf then.”

His attention turned to the other two dogs.

“Any ideas, you two?” he continues, only to get no response. Before Church-kun had a chance to ask another question, the loud thump of someone falling off their roof shifts his attention elsewhere. “Hello?”

Church-kun moved his body to the ‘porch’ of their shell, making an effort not to let the dogs out. There, a girl in a puffy pink dress stood. She gave a wave, almost unsure of this person.

Church-kun stared at them for a couple seconds.

“Uh… sure?” he started, only to realize something. “Me not sure how you got up on me in the first place.”

For some reason, this remark got a chuckle.

“What’s funny?”

No answer. Instead, the girl just hands over a rock. It wasn’t anything special, outside of it being a good size. I guess one could make an argument that it looked sort of tasty. Though, that just raises the question of whether or not that Church-kun has taste buds. Which is not something I don’t think any of us want to think about.

“Me think you’re bribing me. I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

Still no answer. At least now, someone was arriving.

“Oh look, a church.”

What appeared to be a man in a labcoat approached, followed by more of them. They were all wearing masks, which did make it a bit of a pain in the butt to actually tell which one was which.

“Should we go and pray at it?” another one of the grunts inquired, only to get a warning shot from the girl as their response. “I guess not.”

They gave Church-kun one more look, not at all noticing him or the dogs. Which you would think would be a lot more obvious to these grunts, but you would be wrong. If anything, they were more freaked by the fact that the building had attempted to ‘shoot’ them then the fact that there was a random church just sitting in the middle of the woods. Maybe in their world, this was a normal occurrence. Which just raises more questions. Questions that our mimic church thing wasn’t quite ready to deal with at the moment.

Instead, he just watched and made sure that the dogs didn’t get out. That would suck for their owners. Which speaking of which, where were they? Church-kun had sworn they had seen them walk out of the building, examined part of the ground and headed onto another building. That had to have been at least a couple minutes ago, at least? Kind of hard to keep track of time when you didn’t really have a way to know what time it was in the first place. But I digress.

“What’s a random church doing here?”

Of course, that peace was unable to last. The breaker took the form of a woman, dressed in a black cloak. Unlike the grunts that had already past, their mask actually had defined features on it. And by that, I mean it had eyeholes and lips. Which weren’t much, but did their jobs quite well.

“Never mind, it was probably nothing.” the woman added and headed on, five grunts following right behind. “Get into position! I want to be completely ready when they get here!”

Carefully, Church-kun poked their head out. While the party was just visible to them, their focus seemed to be on the woman. Though, it didn't explain why one of them had five corpses on their back. But oh well. They were probably just saving them. That, or they were their next meal.

“Huh.”

What followed, was the party taking on this woman. While they were successful, it did end with the guy with the bodies slipping on something and flinging their large sword into the woman's head. Some looting followed, only for them to freak out. 

“I'm back.” MeeMee greeted, seating herself down on one of the benches. “Follow the carts.”

“Of course.” Church-kun responded, making sure that the dogs weren't in a spot that would result in them getting flung out. “How it go?”

“Alright. I think we made a friend.” MeeMee answered, leafing through their book of crafting recipes. “How about you?”

Church-kun made a quick glance to their roof. While they could still ‘feel’ the girl up top, they seemed to be minding their own business.

“Maybe?”

With that, it was off to Frovia and whatever surprises awaited them there.


	5. Mocking Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which characters get mocked and Whip throws a tantrum.

"MeeMee, that doesn't count." Jestery remarks. "It has to be one of them. If it were MeeMee, Sui- I mean Whip, or Church-kun, it would just be the DM talking to DM! Party doesn't want that!"

For the four characters under the DM’s watch, they weren’t quite what to think.

“Me very confused.” Church-kun announced, carefully peeking their head out of their shell. “Could you explain?”

Jestery’s attention shifted towards it. Then too the currently motionless party. And by party, I mean everyone else.

“Oh right, you idiots have a talking church.” the jester continued. “Maybe if Church-kun was more of an adventurer, you wouldn’t actually be so bored. Oh wait. Then the DM would have to make every entrance super big. Then all the monsters would get out and the party doesn’t want that.”

Church-kun just stared at her for a couple seconds. In that time, they were assaulted by puppies. Who were to be fined. Eventually. It’ll happen at some point. I promise.

“Okay…”

After, Jestery turned to Crimson.

“Personally, I actually like Crimson.” the jester explained. “Kind of nice to see a same-sex pair that doesn’t involve both of them fighting each other for a couple bouts.”

Hey. I’ve gotten better.

“Yes, but I don’t think stuff that hasn’t been published yet counts. So no Cho and Me.”

After saying that, she let her attention return about the dancer.

“Jestery is not quite sold on the custom class. Yes, there’s a whole bunch of prestige classes that involve dancing and the like, but nothing for clerics. What did Crimson get? Just a slightly better version of Diehard, that’s what!”

Crimson looked to the ground for a brief second, taking a deep breath right after.

“So what?” the dancer remarked, her focus on Jestery as best she could. “I can do this.”

With that, she began to dance. Just barely, the sound of dice being rolled could be heard, only to be followed by the droplets of rain.

“Good for you. Crimson changed the weather.” Jestery continued. “Crimson can do other things. Nice to know.”

With that, she headed on to her next target - MeeMee.

“MeeMee, you’re an identity crisis in the making.” the jester continued. “You’re a rogue but you want to make magical items. You could’ve been a wizard, maybe even a sorcerer. But no, that would’ve been too hard for MeeMee.”

MeeMee just stares at her for a couple seconds.

“So you’re suggesting that I switch classes?”

Jestery nodded.

“How would I do that?”

A shrug. 

“Beats Jestery.”

Which just left Whip. Though, it would seem that the warlock was not in the mood to speak to the jester. No, an eldritch blast was what she had in mind. Not that Jestery would allow such an outcome to occur. No, she just picked up Whip up by her sides and held the girl up to her face.

“Watashi o hanashite..”

“Naze watashi wa, nise no ningyōdesu ka? Anata wa onaji uso o nando mo kurikaeshi iu koto ga dekimasuga, anata ga hontōni daredearu ka wa kawarimasen..“

“ Uso-tsuki .”

“ Anata wa watashi ga darena no ka shitte iru to shinjite imasu watashi wa anata ni uso o tsuite imasu ka ?” Jestery responded and set Whip down, watching her go silent. Yet, it would seem that Whip had enough.

“Meinu. Supirichuaru.”

An eldritch blast followed, nearly hitting MeeMee. But not Jestery.

“I believe my work here is done.” Jestery added, only to notice the rest of the party. “Jestery has a lot more to go.”

She then turned her attention to the sky and teleported away, but not before flipping the bird. Because you know, that’s what all the assholes in this world do, I guess?


	6. Mementos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aliza, or that strange old man, was the result of the party deciding to kill a guy then bring him back to life. It wouldn't be the last time they would do that.

Aliza was never a big fan of pictures.

Sure, would he preferred to have gotten married sometime before he had joined up with Distant Harmony. But his average looks and tendency to get into long rants was his downfall. Not that it stopped him from making friends. People such as Polias. Man, what he would have gave to just see him one more time back then. Now though, he just wanted to see this end. And by end, I mean Polias.

Yet as the illusionist stood within the inner tunnels of Happitown, packing up the last of the stuff he wanted to take with him, nostalgia seemed to hang within with the sort of tightness you would expect from a good friend. Especially with the arrival of the noble, it was a good idea to head on.

“I wish you were here.” he muttered, his gaze passing over what looked to be a group shot of one particular graduating class. He wasn’t entirely certain why had that particular framed up, but it seemed to serve some particular memory of his.

At one time, the room he was currently standing in was an office. While it wasn’t his office (his was more of a closet), it had done the job quite nicely. The nice, comfy chairs were still that and the art and the strange inclusion of a window made it feel less like a prison for an exiled. But it was not a home. Not that Aliza really had an idea what that was after all these years. Sure, he had built his fair share across plenty of worlds. But those had been for other people. Usually, his clients were adventurers who needed a particular building - a church. a keep, a cabin, a wizard’s tower. You name it, he built it.

But now, he was coming upon his greatest project yet. But that was something to focus on outside of this place.

For now, that focus was on a stack of boxes topped with a plush of a guy dressed a cloak and mask. You would think that such a replica would include the details of the mask, but the gift shop skimped out on that front. Much like everything else that was in the gift shop at one point.

“Let’s go, Polias.” Aliza muttered, giving the plush one more glance as he carefully pulled himself and the stuff up top.

Compared to the last time someone had to walk through here, the training area was none worse for the wear. Sure, having a large hole wasn’t anything great for resale, but it meant far easier access to the hidden tunnels. Which was always good for resale. In retrospect, he should’ve gave the proper blackjacking tools and hoped to god that they didn’t hit the target.

After making the necessary turns to get outside, it was back to Anchaged. At least now, he had a way to transport stuff. And sure, he would’ve been thankful for a cart at least, but the small wagon with a wobbly wheel would have to do. Especially since it came from the same place as the plush.

“Just a little bit further.” he told himself, carefully making his way out of the forest and into the plains. While he hadn’t really encountered anything of note, he had been able to salvage the wood from his visitor’s landing on this world, along with some of the hardware. But outside of that, he was going to have make do with whatever he found in Anchaged. So in other words, stone, wine barrels and whatever else the cockroaches hadn't completely destroyed.

At the gate, he carefully passed on through and made his way towards what remained of the inn. Which at the moment, was serving as the main planning/workshop of the illusionist. He headed inside, making sure to deposit his mask on a coat rack. Once that was out of the way, Aliza grabbed his plush and set it down on the table. There, a set of plans had been set out. At the moment, it would look like he was in the process of sketching out new additions. Though, it would mostly seem that he was drawing out class buildings. You know, because that sort of makes sense. Especially if that bright light supposed to be believed.

“Let’s see here.” he whispered and focused on the map. “If nothing else, I could make an adventurer’s hall, maybe a tower for wizards. But what about for that weird looking girl that went with them?”

He picked up a piece of paper and began to sketch. At first, it was just shapes. But eventually, that gave way to ideas. A cave? No. That would just be odd. Noo, it would need to be something softer. Maybe a little corner, with a bed and table to work on whatever that she needed to work on. Stuff like colors and materials could be figured out later. Right now, the general exterior was what he should be focusing on.

“Maybe an eldritch yet cutey sort of cafe?”

Yeah. That could work. Sure, other warlocks might not agree with the general theme or the atmosphere. Pastel colors, with a bunch of stuffed animals and figurines. Of course, there would be And it he was fortunate, maybe find a warforged and dress it up as it’s cute attendant?

While a bit of a pipe dream, it would fit the general atmosphere of a city built for adventurers.

“Now, the churc-”

Before he had a chance to finish that sentence, a loud bang erupted within the fortress. Reluctantly, Aliza made his way outside. For once, he had a stunstick in hand. Which is better than his usual set of spells.

Standing in front of the entrance to the tunnels of Anchaged, was a feminine-looking warforged. For this occasion, they were dressed in a labcoat but no mask.

“Let me guess, Distant Harmony has sent a girl here to fucking off me.”

“First off, language.” the warforged responded. “Secondly, I’m a man.”

“Uh… you don’t look like one.” Aliza answered, trying to decide how he would handle this. “So are you going to attempt to kill me?”

The warforged rolled it’s eyes and charged forward, only to get a nonlethal shock of volts.

“Much better.” Aliza answered and took a deep breath. “Join me and I’ll give you everything you could ever need. Don’t and I’ll keep shocking you till I run out of juice.”

He concentrated for a few seconds. While his opponent couldn’t quite notice it, his labcoat was now slightly puffier.

“And I have a whole lot of juice.”

Somehow, this was enough to claim victory over the warforged.

“Fine. What is your first order.”

Aliza took a deep breath.

“I shall name you Petal.” he explained. “You are now a warlock.”

‘Petal’ looked at him confused.

“What’s a warlock?”


	7. Grasping at Straws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, what happens when a player gives you a name and a description.

It was a normal day in Ebyssia.

In Wyvos, that meant something special.

Wyverns and Catfolk were going about their routines, shopping and indulging themselves in the various goods that were brought in earlier. They would complement each other’s clothes, gossiping about the latest couple or additional partner. There was even a chance of a surprise wedding proposal of some sort.

For Shadeye, it was a perfect time to rake in business and see if fortune awaited him and his boys. But with the sun setting and night ready to swoop in, it was time to close up shop. 

“Bag, Stone!” he announced, watching both orcs close up their stalls and making their way over. Of the two, it would seem the larger of the two, Bag, was dressed quite strangely by orcish standards. And by that, I mean he was dressed in a brown sweater and pants of all things. His brother, Stone, on the other hand, had gone for the more traditional armor. And even then, it looked like it was more for show than actual protective capabilities. “So, how was business today? Did you manage to catch the jaws of fortune?”

Both orcs knelt down, depositing a large pile of gold onto the goblin’s blanket.

“Oh my.” Shadeye whispered as he let his hands carefully touch the coins. As great as it was to have this much coin, one had to be certain that it was the real thing and not some imitation that the customer had passed off. “It would seem that you two just got your big break.”

Both Stone and Bag perked up, watching their father casually divide the pile down the middle. While they could’ve easily bickered about the size of the share or how much they were actually getting, both knew that it didn’t matter. For having half the vision of most people, Shadeye always seemed to have twice the attention to details. Or something like that.

“Here are your badges. Go forth and truly make your fortune.”

Carefully, he digs through the pile, eventually handing over a silver pin shaped like a rose.

“Are you sure?” Stone whispered, carefully snapping the badge onto his armor. “You can come with us, if you want.”

But Shadeye shakes his head. 

“Your old man has taught you everything you need to know when it comes to bartering. Now, it's just a matter of you two putting it into practice.”

His gaze shifted slightly, focused now on the scrap around him than his sons. Yet, Bag slowly approached and carefully wrapped his arms around the goblin.

“Now, now, I’ll stay in touch.”

Bag perked up, feeling slightly better after hearing that. After, the two made their way over to their stalls and grabbed their gear. Which in their cases, was just a pair of backpacks.

“See you around!”

And with that, the two were off.

“They grow up so fast.” Shadeye muttered, letting a smile hang on his face as he leaned forward, just enough to see them out. “Oh. Anything that I can help you with?”

The customer, an orc in a suit seemed to be pacing in place.   
“I’m looking for an old woman. Looks human, doubt that she is.” the orc remarked. “Dresses like it’s costume day every day. Ring any bells?”

“Yeah. I saw someone who looked like that.” Shadeye answered. “Check the restaurants.”

The orc gave a nod.

“Thank you.” he answers and heads off, making quick work of the short distance. And like Shadeye said, what looked to be the old woman stood. Her fairy companion floated beside her, fawning over the ring in their hands.

“There you are.” the orc muttered, watching the old woman shoot her companion. “Oh. You’re those kind of people.”

A look.

“Hey. I’m not going to judge. Just curious.” they continued, only to get a sigh in return.

“Noble. How many times have I gone over this with you?” the old woman continues. “It’s complicated.”

The noble took a deep breath.

“Clarissa, I’m still not certain what’s so complicated about being married to both a fairy and a tree.”

‘Clarissa’ took a deep breath, making a quick glance up towards the sky. A few seconds later, her gaze returned to the noble.

“Let’s see, I have to share the tree with someone else, for starters.” she answered. “Then there’s the fact that the tree is and isn’t one.”

“Oh.” the noble muttered. “Do you know anywhere where I can get a whole bunch of food?”

Clarissa pointed behind her.

“Please don’t get yourself killed.” she whispered, getting just a nod.

“I won’t.”


	8. Meet the Lya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archfey meets the mother of the god that she helped kill and things come out. It's kind of expected.

Compared to the last time Lya had come to Frovia, things felt different now. A lot different.

Maybe it came down to the atmosphere of the town, or the presence of fey mixed with all the giants. Of note, was the succubi here. As her creation, she had to make sure that they were at least living well enough and the general love lifes. That, and make sure that none of them had suddenly gone full-on demon and needed their brains fucked. Not that she would really mind per-a-say.

“Here we go.” she whispered, letting a pink aura form around her and scanned the area for a possible target. “There we go.”

This particular appeared to be quite young, may have just born from a succubus and something else.

Instead of finding the purified demons with their usual wings, they were now sporting something along the lines of what a butterfly would have. Though, they still had the same texture. So of course, Lya had to give them a slight rub.

“Oh, your holiness!” one of them announced, watching their creator’s attention focus on their wings as a whole. “Is something a matter?”

“Not at all.” Lya responded, making sure to turn off her charm aura. After all, it would be rude to solicit information from her own kind like this. Especially if they were so young. “Could you tell what your parents are?”

For a few seconds, the girls looked among each other. While it was possible that they didn’t understand the question, they probably didn’t know what species they even were. Or why a far larger version of them dressed in what looked to be an evening dress was asking all of these questions.

“My Mommy looks like me, while my mamma is a lot smaller and has butterfly wings!” one of the succubus finally announced, jumping up and down for some reason. “Did I give a right answer?”

Lya gave a nod.

“Just one more question.” Lya continued. “Can you tell me where I can find Sivella then?”

She got no answer to that question. Not that it really needed to be, since the answer seemed to show itself. 

“What do you need of me, Lya?”

Standing before her, was a tall fey with white eyes and glacial blue hair. A dress made of snow covered her body, going quite well with the fey wings of frost flapping about in the air. 

“Oh my. You're quite a looker.” Lya thought. “But you're already taken by one of my creations. So I guess I'll let you go on that front.”

“Don't even try it.” Sivella whispered, giving Lya a look.

“I already know about your arrangement with your dancer. If I really wanted to have my way with you, I would have planted one on those beautiful lips of yours.”

That attempt at flirting was met with a slap to the face.

“Hey. I'm at least trying to be on my best behavior.” Lya continued and Sivella rolled her eyes. “What? I'm on my best behavior.”

The two series made their way to the back of the dance hall, entering the personal suite of Sivella and Crimson. Since we last visited this place two days ago, some work had been put in. It mostly took the form of the removal of all the broken furniture and fixed stuff put in its place. Outside of that, it was still the same home as ever.

“Been a long time since I’ve been here.” Lya muttered, catching a look from her host as she bent down to look into the toybox filled with action figures. “Dang. Did she really keep these? I swore she got rid of them when we all landed down here.”

“Was Yuzi a friend of yours or something?” Sevilla inquired, only to get a double take in return. “She didn’t seemed to mention having anyone, even when my father was her dancer. I kind of thought that the elemental queen was a loner.”

Lya’s expression turned to that of a scowl. She was quite tempted to just dig up 

“I beg your pardon? She was my daughter.” the twilight messenger countered, her gaze shifting back to Sivella. “If you were having iss-

She doesn’t get to finish that sentence, with Sevilla’s lance coming quite close to the goddess’s face.

“Where were you when she flung me off this mountain and I hit my head? Where were you when she used me for target practice? Where were you when she was throwing her own people off this mountain? Where the fuck were you doing in the last ten fucking years of my time with her? Many succubi live on this mountain, have you not heard their prayers? Or has your head been up some girl’s ass?”

Lya looked towards the ground, going for a right hook. She didn’t manage to connect. Or was even attempting to hit her. Maybe she wanted to give the loving fey some sort of justice. Maybe

“I’m sorry.” Lya whispered.

“Sorry doesn’t fix the damage caused within.” Sivella whispered, opening the door up. “I ask that you go.”

But Lya wasn’t in the listening mood. No, she was most intent on just staying. Maybe it was in the hopes of making things up. But the damage has already been done. 

“No. There’s so much that I want to ta-”

Thankfully, a butterfly swooped in and dragged the twilight messenger out. Of course, Sevilla closed the door and got to work on what she had been working before Lya decided to stop on by and be a complete ass. It was the simple task of writing of her name. You know, just in case she had to sign 

Sivela

Cibila

Sebella

“Why can’t I get this?” she muttered, only for the mirror in the room to light up. Her gaze shifted over to it, finding a familiar face staring back.

“Hey.” Crimson called out, watching her girlfriend’s face light up. Which was then followed by the hiding of any possible evidence. “I got some bad news.”


	9. A Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to convince your wyvern companion to support you so you can become a dragonkith.

Whip was never really one for conversations.

Well, she claimed to be at least. Recently, the warlock had managed to make promising growth in that area, but that could be accounted to the shotgun hanging to the back of her dress.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she inquired, watching Yelena take a deep breath.

“What’s the story behind the shotgun and the souls floating about in it? Or how about the reference to this group of adventurers?”

Whip fell silent.

“How do I put this…” she started, trying to push her thoughts in some semblance of order. “There were once two girls who met in a canyon. One was capable of turning into a wyvern, the other capable of turning into a catfolk. When they met, the catfolk girl decided that in that moment, she would be the one in control of the other girl. Even when others joined - a boy, a slime monk, a half demon monk/sorcerer thing and a detective. Not even when the wyvern girl was joined by a partner of her own - a succubus, did the catfolk girl worry.”

She took a deep breath, waiting for any questions from her cohort. When she got none, the warlock continued with her story.

“But then the wyvern found out the catfolk’s secret. She confronted the girl about it and the control that one girl thought was there, just disappeared. So the catfolk ran and the wyvern follows, bringing their friends along with them. After chasing her across the sea, a great beast came forth and forced the two girls to work together.”

After, her gaze focused in on Yelena.

“Interesting. I’m guessing you’re the cat then?”

Whip just stared blankly, not entirely sure how to react.

“Uh…” she started and debated her answer. While the story was something drilled into her quite a bit along with the whole ‘you have three souls for some reason’ spiel that wasn’t quite necessary now. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

But Yelena gave her a look. The sort of look one gives when you’re certain a person is holding back and what 

“So that’s what I am to you? Someone to follow you after you run off for no applicable reason?”

Whip shook her head.

“Better yet, why be the catfolk when you can be the wyvern?” Yelena continued, carefully approaching the warlock, only to watch her swat away a bunch of flies. “Don’t get me wrong, cats have their place, but wyverns are the true driving force.”

Whip’s eyes lit up as she leaned in closer to her cohort. Sure, Yelena’s reasoning didn’t quite match up with the story but, something about it seemed tempting. As if some force in the universe had steered her this way and wanted to see her take the last step. No, that couldn’t be right. She had chosen those skills for herself. This just had to be a test. Yeah. That sounded right.

“Can I ask you a question?” the warlock finally responded and got a nod in return. “Why were you trying to flee the city?”

Yelena let out a deep breath and looked down at the floor for a brief second. After, her gaze returned to Whip.

“I wanted to see the world and I guess I thought that was my best option? I’m not really sure myself.” 

“Huh…”

Whip swatted down some more flies. She wasn’t entirely sure where they were coming from or why they seemed to be so attracted to her. Whatever it was, 

“So, are you a cat or a wyvern then?” Yelena remarked, giving the warlock a second to answer her.

“I’m a wyvern.” Whip whispered, getting a slight look over from the wyvern. “Something wrong?”

Yelena shook their head.

“No, you’ll just make a beautiful wyvern. But for now, we should probably get back to the others.”

Carefully, Whip got on her partner’s back, making the short walk to the rest of the party.


	10. My Little Crimson (Non-canon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no clue why the fuck I wrote this.

Sivella was not entirely certain what had gotten into Crimson today. When she had woken up, the dancer had already gotten up before her, got dressed and had breakfast. Normally, they would wake together, she would get dressed first, with Crimson helping her out. Then they would eat a nice breakfast and get their day started. 

“Oh. She left a note.” she remarked and picked it up.

_ Sivella, _

_ Meet me down at the stables. I have a surprise for you. _

_ -Crimson _

The archfey took a deep breath, exiting their suite and heading outside. There, the various fae and other creatures that inhabited Frovia were going about their day. Normally, people would at least give her some attention. But right now, they were more focused on other things.

making the short journey to the stables.

“Crimson, where are you?” she called out, taking the stairs two at a time. While she was not mad at her dancer for going the extra mile to surprise her, she would’ve preferred some kind of heads up.

“Miss Heart, we have been expecting you.” the cockroach attendant announced. “Your horse is awaiting you.”

“Horse?” Sevilla remarked, only to catch the sound of hooves heading towards her. Eventually, a pale horse came into view. A pink saddle sat on the creature's back, matching their barding quite well. Though that didn't explain why they had a small set of bat-like wings just barely sticking out, or the snowflake hanging close to their neck. “Crimson?”

A neigh, followed by a lick. It was quite possible that she was trying to kiss the archfey, but failed. Outside of that, she did enjoy it when Sivella brushed her hand through her mane.

“I’m guessing this is what you wanted me to see? You as a horse?”

A nod, followed by Crimson carefully picking up Sivella and setting her down in the saddle.

“Uh… now what?”

Crimson headed off, making a beeline out of Frovia and towards the nearby forest. Of course, that meant dealing with the snow and ice. While not as bad as it once been, there still quite a number of patches that could easily trip a pony like her up and deposit Sivella on the ground. Which neither of them really wanted.

“Please be careful.” Sivella whispered and got a slight nod from her mount. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.

A neigh, followed by a winnie. Which I doubt the archfey might understand. Or would something like tongues work here? Hmm… I’m not entirely certain. But whatever the case, Sivella let out a chuckle.

“Is that so? From what I heard, you were going to be granted minor goddess status. You’ll even get a proper seat here in Frovia too.”

Another whinny. A quite happy one at that. Then it was followed by a couple shorter ones at that.

“Yeah. I’m so proud of you too.” Sivella answered. “Though, it’s meant not getting to see you as often.”

Sad neigh this time. Though this time, it got Crimson a more direct look from Sivella.

“Could you at least make an attempt at talking normally?”

“Fine.” Crimson whispered as the forest came into view. “Yeah. This is my gift to you for not being there all that often.”

“Thank you.” Sivella answered and blushed a bright shade of pink. “Any place in particular that you want to have your temple?”

“I was thinking Anchaged.” Crimson answered as they headed into the forest itself. “It just seemed like a good place to lay down my routes. Especially now that I can teleport there in an instant.”   
Gaea’s Dance hall came into view. At the moment, the second mother was engaging in some light gardening. Of course, today was a visit from Lya with her other wife.

“Oh my.” Gaea remarked, making her way over. “Can I pet your horse?”

“I guess?” Sivella whispered, watching her cohort make her way over. A bit of brushing then followed. Not too much. That way, Lya could have her opportunity as well. Or not, since she had her attention more on her first wife than the weird-looking horse. Which, oh well? It could be worse.

Of course, Lya’s other wife was interested. So that meant standing around a bit more, especially when the eldritch ‘thing’ was actually trying to pet Crimson. It’s not that hard to do so, unless your body wasn’t glitching out.

“Sorry about that.” the guardian horror whispered. After the trio of goddesses returned to their game of cards. “Have I nice ride.”

“We will.” Sivella answered and gave a Crimson a slight tap to the side. In turn, the dancer headed off, making sure to straddle the forest for the moment. When they finally reached water’s edge, it was just a matter of turning around. Or not. “Can I make a suggestion, Crimson?”

“Sure.”

Carefully, Sivella got off. After, she knelt down to be in her wife’s gaze.

“Why don’t I be the horse now?”

A quick removal of Crimson’s mask later, it was the archfey’s turn to be the horse. So carefully, the dancer applied the mask and watched the transformation. Compared to her horse form, Sivella’s looked like something out of a fantasy book. Light blue fur covered her body, while a glacial blue mane flowed down to her back. A pair of black eyes kept watch upon Crimson, while a snowflake necklace similar to hers hung around the neck area. Finishing it all off, was a small set of fairy wings. Which might be able to keep both the horse and the rider afloat.

“Ready to go now?” Crimson whispered and got a whinny in return. “Let’s go then.”

With that, the two headed south. While sure, they could gone a far different way and ended up at their destination. It was a bit easier to just retrace their steps or would that be hoofprints back.

“Anything in particular that you want to do when we get back?”

A neigh, followed by a headshake.

“I guess we could have breakfast. All I’ve eaten today is some hay and some pellets.”

A winnie, but it seemed closer to a closer to a chuckle.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Crimson continued as they returned to the icy fields of snow. “After that, maybe some reading and writing practice?”

Sivella shook her head.

“Hey, you’re getting better. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Sure, Sivella’s reading and writing skills were by no means as bad as they used to be, but there was still room for improvement. Especially in stuff like writing her own name,

But eventually, the entrance to Frovia itself was right in front of them.

“End of the line.”

With that, she jumped off and carefully removed her mask from the archfey.

“Better now?” Sivella inquired, getting a nod in return as they headed towards the steps. “Good.”

Carefully, she ran her fingers through the succubus’s hair.

.

“Ugh…”

Crimson’s eyes slowly open up.

“Well that was a weird dream.” the dancer whispered, holding up her holy symbol to look at it. “Could I really become a goddess?”

Sure, the idea sounded cool and stuff, but there was still a lot going on at the moment. Maybe once Distant Harmony had been at least put into a place. Maybe once their adventure was over. Yeah. That sounded nice.


	11. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to remember what I can to forget.

A woman stands in a room.

She's dressed in a lab coat and mask, staring over some kind of document. While the outcome is by no means what she would prefer, there isn't much of a choice. Either this or just end it. And that option didn't sound so nice.

After staring down at it for what she deemed long enough, she set the document down and left the room. A walk down a hallway follows, eventually bringing her out into another rectangular room. Compared to the room she had just left, this one had a child being looked over by a man.

“I'm guessing you made your decision then?” the man inquires and gets a nod. He already knows the answer, but it still hurts.

Her attention turns to the child. Part of her wishes to take them with her in the hopes of showing them a better place. But with the possibility of Distant Harmony planning to do stuff with their research, they couldn’t take that chance.

“This is goodbye.”

Carefully, she hugs them and they carefully turn to face her. The woman removes her mask.

“Momma?” they coo, only sort of understanding what’s been going on.

“I’m going to be gone for a long time.” she explains, taking a deep breath right after. “It's quite likely that you might never see me again.”

The child stares up towards her. It’s very likely that they will never know the sacrifices to be made in the hopes of prolonging peace just a little longer. Or perhaps this was just a move that she was making just to force her employer’s hand. In face of the rumors of those Polias had recently ‘recruited’, this was their only shot.

She let go of the child, making her way back to the hallway. The man follows right behind, the two making quick time to their final destination. Which has rooms went, was kind of boring. There was just a tube in the middle of four walls with nothing on them. A small pile of stuff had been placed at the base of the tube - a dagger (masterworked), some padded armor, a book and 100 measly coins.

“Wait!”

The child runs in, black cat plush hanging by their side. It would seem that he’s far sharper 

“Take this!” the child shouts and holds the plush out. “Victoria might be able to help you wherever you go.”

The woman’s face lights up, feeling sort of sad for the child.

“Thank you. I will remember this.” she whispers, watching the man shuttle the kid away. After, he closes the door and his attention returns to her.

“I’ll take him away right after this is done.” the man continues, beginning to police up the stuff. “Best of luck.”

The woman gave a nod as everything went dark.

.

MeeMee takes a deep breath.

“You’ll never let me forget, will you?” she whispers, staring down towards Victoria. Carefully, she gives the plush a hug and stuffs it back into her body.

“Who will never let you forget?” Church-kun whispers, but gets no answer. It probably would’ve helped if he had spoken up. But oh well.


	12. Fairness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A poem for The Noble, who died.

It’s a beautiful day.

The sun’s shining, birds are flapping about.

But all is not right in the tropical paradise that was once a world.

For one question remains.

Who was Daniel Blaine?

.

Ask the elders and they’ll tell ya’

You see sonny, there was once was a goblin by the name of Daniel Blaine.

Born with pain in his heart and will to walk forward, he taught those his story

But all that got him was more pain, a heavier burden on his back.

Then he met them.

.

They were to be the lantern, dragging their world out of the darkness.

But in the end, nothing but ruin remained.

For changing fate, they were treated like royalty.

And the wealth went to ole’ Daniel’s head.

Gone was the teacher, in was the noble man.

But even he was unable to stop the incoming storm.

.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

Even in the face of the littlest ones, it’s easy to sway the youngest.

In the case of the noble’s child, the witch wanted nothing more to bring nothing more than the objective back so they could be done.

But alas, that’s never how things work.

In a panic, she was left as a partially stripped body.

Gone and forgotten, a spark extinguished.

But the noble didn’t learn that lesson.

He dared to repeat it and paid his due in the jungle. 

Headless he was brought back here, surrounded by the few who loved him.

.

“And that’s that.” Clarissa explained, her fairy closing the book.

The room they were standing in was by no means a place for burial. That was to be back at home. Wherever that place might be, after all these years.

Alongside our resident black mage, stood a tiefling in what looked to be a general’s outfit, a reanimated corpse in a tuxedo and a blob of white goop. Not what one would expect when they think ‘grand hero’ or people who could save a world. If anything, they had long fallen down from this pedestal.

“Shove it up your ass.” the tiefling announced, turning his attention to the body of their fallen comrade. “Just because we saved you once, doesn’t mean we're still the same people.”

But the narrator does not answer. So our ‘heroes’ turn their attention to the body and step towards it.

“Rest in peace, you dumb fuck.” Clarissa whispered, taking a deep breath right after. Next was the reanimated body. He just did a bow and muttered something under his breath. The tiefling followed right behind, taking his hat off and holding it at his chest. This just left the blob of white, who had reformed into a princess of sorts.

“Squeak.” they whisper, wrapping their ‘arm’ around the body. An attempt at a kiss followed. It was sort of successful. After, she picked up what looked to be a parasol.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the tiefling announced, getting no answer. “You’re going after them, aren’t you?”

A squeak.

“You idiot! They’ll just tear you apart too.”

But the ‘princess’ wasn’t in the mood for listening and instead made her exit, but not before walking over to Clarissa and ripping out her earrings. A loud ‘crunch’ follows.

“I HOPE I NEVER SEE THAT STUPID FUCKING FACE OF YOURS AGAIN!” Clarissa announced, not even caring that she was speaking like a lunatic. But what do I even know? She stopped listening to me a long time ago.


	13. Butterfly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you suddenly have to respec your character and it somehow works out.

Whip’s eyes shot open.

Currently, the warlock found herself in Church-kun.

“You're awake, my princess.” Yelena whispered, her voice sounding slightly different. Mostly because she was speaking common rather than draconic. “Are you alright? You've been out for a couple days. I was really starting to worry about you.”

Carefully, Whip sat herself up and looked towards the ground.

Her purple dress is gone, getting replaced with a pink one with purple trim. It felt quite nice and looked to reach to her feet, complementing the fingerless opera gloves covering her arms. For some reason, her chest felt compressed and her neck felt kind of funny. Like someone had put something there and when about their day like it was no big deal.

“What happened?” she whispered, slowly pulling herself up. But all that seems to get her is a splat onto the ground. “Where’s Church-kun?”

“He’s playing with his dogs outside.” Yelena continued, taking a deep breath. “Uh… sorry about your eyes. They sort of changed and I’m not entirely sure what happened”

The wyvern looks around, eventually finding something reflective to show her friend. Then it’s just a matter of getting Whip over there.

“Steady now.”

The duo made their way over, taking each step quite carefully. While their destination wasn’t really that far (it was one of the dog’s water dishes), Whip was still getting the hang of walking in a set of shoes that weren’t quite her own. I guess they came with all the other stuff in that long nap of her’s.

“Just a little bit further.” Yelena whispered, watching Whip stumble and nearly land face first into the dog water dish. Carefully, she helped the warlock back up. “Sorry if it this kind of awkward for you…”

Whip shook her head.

“It’s all right.” she whispered back, letting her attention turn to the water in the bowl. For as small of a container as it was, the water did the legwork to be as clear as possible. Her eyes, while still the same color, had a different sort of shine to them. On top of that, her ribbon had been tied around her neck. “Did you do the ribbon?”

Yelena nodded, seeming almost ashamed for it.

“Once a dragonkith reaches a certain stage, the dragon, or wyvern in this case, needs to present a choker of some sort to signify their bond. Considering we now known each other for about a week and a half, on top of being in a boat for a bit longer, this was the best that I could do.”

But Whip doesn’t seem to care, giving her wyvern a hug.

“Thank you.” she mumbles, breaking away right after. “I'll cherish it.”

Yelena blushed a bright shade of pink, letting Whip get on. Then it was a short walk outside, where Church-kun was getting assaulted with love by his dogs. 

Carefully, Yelena took a couple steps back and dashed forward, shooting up into the air.

“Now that we're out of hearing range, can I ask you something?” the wyvern inquired, just getting to seee her passenger give a nod. “Where are you from?”

Whip held a finger to her chin,looking out to the sea below.

“Flotsam.”

The answer was not the one that Yelena was expecting, but the wyvern did her best to accept it. She was probably expecting somewhere different.

“Anything interesting there?”

Whip fell silent once more.

“Pies.” she finally answers, not at all satisfied with her own answer. “And pirates.”

“That sounds… kind of exciting.”

A shrug.

“I guess not then?” Yelena continued, trying her best to keep this going. Overall, she was doing quite well. “Anything in particular that you would like to have to celebrate your recovery?”

“Not really.” Whip whispered, her returning to Yelena. “Wait. How old are you?”

Yelena looked off to the side. On one hand, it would be rude of the wyvern to really discuss. So she took a deep breath.

A long way from becoming an adult wyvern.” she answers, making the descent back towards the ship. “How about you.”

“I’m eight.”

The landing onto the ship is a bit rough. Could’ve been worse. Our duo could have just as easily ended up in the sea, washing up wherever that silver dragon is and what not.

“I guess that means we have a whole bunch of time of cuddles and stuff.” Yelena whispered, helping Whip down. “Are you feeling better, my princess?”

A nod, followed by a smile.

“That’s what I like to see.”


	14. Knuckle Sandwiches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you take a bad joke and make it a reality.

With each passing day, Anchaged Fortress was looking more and more like a place for adventurers than a place built by a dragon engaged in a war or something.

Work on the warlock cafe was in full-swing, with a side entrance out of the fortress now in the final stages of completion. But neither of those things were today’s project. That would be planting a vegetable field, so Aliza and possibly any future people living there would have something to eat. And not have to bring in food from elsewhere.

At the moment, we find the titular illusionist hard at work. Petal was also there, having showed an actual proficiency with fabric and thread in creating a cloak dress thing. It didn’t come with a hood, so no attempts at pretending to be a reference could could occur.

“So you need food to continue running?” Petal called out and got a nod in return. “That seems inefficient.”

Aliza chuckled.

“If I ever meet my maker, I’ll have to tell him that.” he joked, carefully standing up. “Though, good work on that line of carrots.”

Petal gave a nod, only to be interrupted by Crazy Dave walking up. Of course, his cart was right behind him.

“Hello Dave.” Aliza greeted, his attention turning to the wares on display. It’s all the same stuff. Which seems like quite a rip-off, but you know. Someone is bound to find a use for them. Or something like that. “Any news?”

Dave took a deep breath.

“Awholebunchofgruntsareheadingyourway.” the cockroach belted out, confusing the warforged. Not because the cockroach talked, but the rate of speech he was talking at. Considering how everyone else has been reacting to our lone merchant, it came as a bit of a surprise.

“Dave, this is Petal.” Aliza continued, turning his attention to Petal. “Petal, this is Crazy Dave.”

Petal’s gaze shifted back to Dave. At first, it would seem that she was just confused. But that didn’t last long, thankfully. It did lead her to a question. A quite important one.

“He doesn’t look so crazy…” she continued, stepping slightly closer to the “Well, no more crazy than me.”

“Ihadabaddayalongtimeago.” Dave continued and looked up towards the sky, a deep breath following that. “Anythingelseicandoforyou?”

Aliza shakes his head.

“We should be able to handle this.” the illusionist remarked, his attention turning to Petal. “You know where my mask is?”

Petal nodded, running over to what looked to be the ‘inn’. Dave on the other hand, headed on his merry way.

.

“Are you sure this is the place.”

For the group of fleeing distant harmony grunts, things had been better.

While none of them had really signed up to be led by crazy blob of goop, they also hadn’t joined Distant Harmony to be killed by adventurers.

“How much further?” one of the grunts called out, their leader looking over the map once more. While quite out of date, it was all they had at the moment. Especially in the face of a lack of food, water and having to pick out someone to replace their last leader. Who took one for the team and ordered them all to make a beak for Happitown. So they did, crossing from the closest part of the Crater of Power to Central Ebyssia. After two days of walking, just about everyone was hoping to find something in the way of food. Anything would do, especially after not stopping in Wyvos to actually eat something. There was a suggestion to head for Frovia, but that was shot down. None of them wanted to be drop kicked to their death anytime soon.

“It’s not much farther, A.” their leader called out, slipping the map into his pockets. “We just have to pass by this fortress, then we’re home free.”

Had the grunt been paying far more attention, they probably would’ve noticed a sign pointing towards the free food. Not that it matters now.

The walk from Anchaged to Happitown didn’t take these jokers too long, especially with the thought of free food to eat being so tantalizing. Though, anything probably sounds tasty after all that physical activity.

But when they got to the edge of the abandoned base, all our grunts found was a figure dressed in traditional distant harmony gear and holding a clipboard.

“Who are you?” a grunt announced, slowly approaching the figure. “What have you done with Aliza.”

The figure chuckles.

“Aliza is alright.” they continue, trying to focus as best they could on this grunt. “Can I interest you some food?”

The grunt’s eyes lit up.

“What kind of food?” his friends announced, all of them ready to dig in to something, anything. It didn’t really matter what was on offer, they would take it.   
“A knuckle sandwich.”

A punch followed, knocking the grunt to the ground. Which coincided right with the arrival of a carriage. That had no mount moving it.

“What is the meaning of this?” the grunt’s leader announced, getting a ‘knuckle sandwich’ of his own. It didn’t look too tasty. Probably hurt a whole lot as well.

“Here’s the thing. In exchange for food, you will help with the construction in Anchaged.” the figure continues, giving the carriage a nod. “If not, I can leave you here to die. The choice is yours.”

Silence followed, with the grunts debating their options. On one hand, they were out of a job and nothing in the way of food. At the same time, this mysterious figure could just be lying through their teeth.

“As much as we like you-” the leader of the grunts started, only to get a look from his subordinates. “We accept your deal.”

That figure cracked a smile, or attempted to smile. They then got up and motioned for our grunts to follow, under the threat of more knuckle sandwiches.

Eventually, Anchaged comes back into view. While nothing had changed, it was not what the grunts were expecting.

“Wait. Why are we heading here?” one of the grunts asked as the figure stopped, turning to face the group once more. Their mask falls to the ground, revealing themselves to be Aliza.

“Surprise?” the illusionist remarked, only for the carriage to disappear and Petal to walk up towards the back of the group. “So, been a while? A shame that it had to be in a situation like this.”

A rock went flying his way, only to go a little bit too high. 

“Polias has betrayed us, turning his fucking back on all of you without a single word. For what? Satisfaction? Greed? Power? He does not care for your lives whatsoever. But I do care. And I refuse to let this focker tear apart Distant Harmony.”

Petal watched as Aliza rallied the grunts up. Of course, she was looking for anyone who wasn't taking too kindly to any of this.

“Just die, old man.” the grunt’s leader announced and grabbed what looked like a large chunk of the fortress and charged towards the illusionist.

“I think not.” Petal muttered, an unknown energy surging in her hand. Six flowers shot out, slamming directly in the head of the leader. “Oops?”

Aliza's attention turned to his assistant, a smile forming on his face.

“Thank you, Petal.” Aliza answered as Petal ran over. “I guess you've begun your journey to becoming a warlock.”

And with that, they filed into the fortress.


	15. Meet the Jes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragon Ballet and other things, oh my.

Jes was not used to flying. 

With all the wyverns in Wyvos, you would think the grand trickster had all sorts of experience being up in the air. 

“You going to be alright?” Apocalypse asked, watching the saddle be placed on him. “Especially after all that happened.”

Jes nods. Carefully, he gets up onto the skeletal dragon and fastens himself in. As funny as might be for him to accidentally from such heights, it was not something he enjoyed. Especially the falling part. It's funny the first time, but all the times after just suck. That was on top of the air time you would g-

Before that thought could even be finished, Apocalypse shot up into the air and made a beeline towards Anchaged Fortress.

“Slow down.” the tiefling called out, feeling his skull slowly returning to its proper place.

“Was that too fast?” Apocalypse called out and carefully twisted his face back. But all he got was a blank stare. Mostly because Jes was still trying to “I'll take that as a yes.”

Heading off once more, Anchaged Fortress came into view at a decent pace. Though, Apocalypse did roar in that general area. 

“If you object, you can come down here and face me directly!”

So Apocalypse did just that,  finding himself face to face with Aliza. While the illusionist was in no state to write a skeletal dragon, he had the balls to face one. Which I guess is something.

“If this fortress is not yours, why are you here mortal?”

Aliza shakes his head.

“I was hired to renovate it.” The illusionist countered. “So far, it's been coming along nicely.”

Both Jes and Apocalypse turned their attention to the fortress itself. While a day had only passed since we last checked in, the garden had been expanded quite a bit. It even had a former grunt patrolling the perimeter. Might want to get a fence around it..

“It’s alright.” Apocalypse muttered, flapping his wing ups into the air and heading off to his next destination. “I think I could do better. Especially if they asked me about doing renovations first.”

Jes chuckled.

“Maybe if you actually took the time to repent back when your own people went down a new path, you might have actually gotten to be in your fortress.” the grand trickster countered, getting flung off in what looked to be the dragon equivalent of a hard bake. Though, a quick use of teleport and feather falling later, he was back on board. Much to the annoyance of his mount. “I get that you’re still sore about that, but it’s in the past.”

Apocalypse just grumbles.

“I still don’t see what’s so great about wyverns going around and acting like they’re the elite.” the skeletal dragon continues, doing his best to keep his normal tone without coming across as frustrated. It was still pretty obvious though. Not that anyone could really blame him for feeling like that in the face of all that had happened while he was gone. “Did you give them the choice or did this get forced upon them. Were the catfolk that were living there treated with same respect? What happened to them?”

Jes does not answer. Instead, he focused the way ahead. It was all valid questions, the sort one could go on and on about. But right now, it was not the thing he wanted to think about.

“It was my greatest trick.” the grand trickster whispered, Frovia’s mountain already right in front of them. “So, do you want to go through the front door or the back?”

Apocalypse scanned the nearby area, shooting up higher into the air. Carefully, he made his way towards his destination, landing in what looked to be Frovia’s plaza.

The people were going about their day, their fey-like wings on full display now. That didn’t explain why they looked smaller, even when mingling with the just as affected succubi. Though, they were seeming to take their now light blue skin and pale eyes in stride. Though, their size change was far more noticable.   
So carefully, Jes got off of Apocalypse and turned his attention to the skeletal dragon. “Can you stay here for a moment?”

Apocalypse groaned, watching his master head towards the dance hall.

“Don’t you even think about it.”

.

The inside of Frovia’s dance hall was still mostly unchanged since the last time we have visited it. If anything, the only real change is the slight improvement in Sivella’s handwriting.

“Whoo.” she whispered, looking over the fruits of hard labor.

Mi name is Sivella.

While not perfect, that’s quite an improvement. Crimson would be quite proud. Only took her a couple hundred attempts.

“Miss Sivella.” a voice called out, forcing the loving fey to turn around. “I hope that I’m not interrupting anything important.”

“Uh… not at all.” she muttered, grabbing a seat for Jes. While nice and plain, they were made of some kind of ice. It was on the list of things that needed to be replaced. 

“Can I ask you something?” Jes responded as they sat themselves down. “How has your time as goddess been?”

A deep breath, followed by a smile. 

“It feels good not to be drop kicked off this mountain, for starters.” Sivella explained, “Outside of Lya showing up and stuff.”

Jes’s gaze focused on the seat for a brief second. After, his attention turned back to Sivella.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Yuzi was never the greatest person, even in the face of serious matters.”

He got an eye roll for that remark. I feel like that’s more than clear these days.

“It doesn’t change the wounds inflicted.” Sivella countered as her gaze focused on her hands for the briefest of moments. “But there are other matters at the moment that take precedence.”

Jes gave a nod and opened his mouth, only for a roar to cut him off.

“Sorry. That would be Apocalypse.” the grand trickster explained, getting up from his chair. “Would you mind if I made my exit?”

Sivella shook her head and casually walked over to the door. But when she went to grab hold of the doorknob, a bolt of electricity coursed through her body. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to get a chuckle from the grand trickster.

“That was in shockingly bad taste.” Jes continued, accepting the punch in the face for his gag and horrible pun. “I am sorry about that.”

“I accept your apology.” the loving fey answered back and tried to open the door again, this time actually being successful. “Just don't do that again.”

Jes gave a nod as they headed on through. Once out there, he did a double take.

Apocalypse was currently covered in bows and ribbons, with little succubi things and other small children of different races joining in on the fun. 

“You will pay for this, Jes.” the skeletal dragon announced, his focus on his master. “I don't care how long it takes me, but I will!”

Of course, he did accept a couple pets from Sivella.

“Could I see you dance, please?” she inquired, getting a groan in return.

“Come on now.” Jes added, pulling out what looked to be a horn of some sort. Generic ballet music followed, with the children scurrying off to the side.

What follows, is the most bizarre case of ballet I think anyone in Ebyssia has ever seen. You wouldn’t think that a skeletal dragon would be unable to do such a routine. But life is surprising, I guess?

Eventually the performance came to an end, clapping followed.

“See? That wasn’t so bad.” Jes explained, carefully getting back onto his mount, But not before focusing in on a pair of women in the crowd. “My, you have quite the balls to be hiding a silver dragon in a city like this.”

Apocalypse’s attention turns to the pair, watching both of them transform. While a pregnant red tiefling and adult silver dragon seem like a powerhouse, but they do not strike. Instead, they just watch.

“I leave them in your own care.” Jes continued and flew away, leaving the archfey to deal with this.

So she did that, slowly approaching the pair.

“What may I do for you?” Sivella whispered, watching the pair revert back. The silver dragon girls take a deep breath, clearing her throat.

“Is there a place that we can stay? My wife is pregnant and looks about ready to give birth.”

Sivella looked towards the residential portion of the area and sighed.

“Can I have a second?” the archfey remarked and rushed back into her dance hall. Of course, she made sure not to smash into the mirror. “Crimson, are you there?”

The mirror rippled for a couple of seconds, revealing what looked to be the dancer.

“What do you need, Sivella?” Crimson remarks, watching her beloved take a deep breath.

“Would you mind if someone used your suite for a time? It’s a pregnant couple.”

A deep breath, followed by a nod.

“They just need to keep the room in decent shape.” the dancer continued, following it up with the blowing of a kiss. The archfey blew one back and the transmission ended.

Sivella made her exit, returning to the couple.

“I just need you to keep the place clean.” she explained and headed off, the two following right behind.


	16. Prelude to the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, when meetings go very, very wrong.

The woman doesn’t want any part of this meeting.

Given the choice, they rather be with their son or working on inventions. But when your boss comes calling, you come answering. Or something like that. 

“It’ll be alright.” her husband whispers, trying his best to hide the swirling vortex of emotions within him as well. If they knew the coming storm that was coming their way, maybe they would have made a different move. Hindsight is 20/20 that way. Yada yada.

“It’s nice to see you, Mr and Mrs Albura.” their new boss announced, all dressed in his nice fiucking suit with his nice fancy handgun and sat himself down. “As you can probably see, I’ve brought along some friends.”

The duo’s attention turn to the group of figures who stand beside their boss. They look less like scientists and more like performers. And not in the nice, happy sort of way. No, these look like the sort that would beat the shit out of you and then have a good time.

“Meet your new teammates.” their boss continues, one of the performers already eyeing up the woman. “Or I would say that, but you shall be handing over your lab to this point forward.”

The woman stands up, her hands slamming the table in the process.

“What makes you think that you can just waltz in and hand it over?” the woman announces, her boss placing a hand crossbow on the table.

“Then why don’t you off yourself then?”

The woman took the crossbow into her hands and fired. Except, it was not towards herself. No, it was towards the slime princess thing.

“Leave.” she whispers, only for her boss to clear his throat.

“It would seem that you are an absolute bi-

A swift jab from the woman's husband brings a swift end to that statement.

“Don’t you dare.” he mutters, his wife’s knife following right after. While it isn’t a clean hit, the mood is quite clear now. There will be no compromise. Not one without blood being drawn and bodies left behind 

“You have made your choice.” their boss threatened, his performers already getting up. The slime just flips the bird, sliding a finger across the throat. “One week. Make it counts.”

The woman flips the bird as they teleported away, collapsing back into her chair.

“Well that went wonderfully.” her husband whispers and gives her a slight hug. “Do you want to have dinner now, May?”

‘May’ gives a nod, as a crash erupted from a nearby room. The duo turned around and rushed into the hallway, throwing any sort of caution into the wind.   
.

MeeMee’s eyes shoot open.

The memories from then and the hug in that weird place ring through her mind one more time.

“About time I stop running.” she thought, looking down towards the plush at her feet. “Let’s get our revenge.”

Carefully, she begins to draw the circle and set the plush within.

“Oh great spirits, bind this plush to walk the lands and do my bidding.” the slime rogue chants, watching energy surge in as the plush got up onto it’s hinds legs. Once complete, she picks the doll up. Maybe then, she can get Whip’s kitchen knife.


	17. Look what the Drow dragged in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, how to secure another goddess without having to do anything.

As Lya’s dancer, it was essential for Boko to make sure that no one had managed to sneak into her mistress’s retreat. While the days of actual wyverns mounting full blown assaults were mere memories now, it was still good to check.

“Boko confused.”

So, you can imagine the woman’s surprise when she found a pillow fort that most definitely hadn’t been there the day before. While she and her mistresses were not the only ones on this island (mistress’s personal guard village thing was around them), 

“Boko say hi!” she announced, a hiss being her answer. “Boko want hi, not hiss!”

Instead of a proper greeting, the occupant of the pillow fort clicked what sounded like their pincers together.

“Boko will get Lya. Boko thinks you won’t like that.”

Still no proper greeting. By this point, Boko had enough.

“You asked Boko for this!”

Boko shifted forms, taking on that of a large bear. She charged into the pillow fort, forcing whatever that was inside out. In retrospect, it may have been a better idea to just grab Lya or even Gaea if she was here.

Because in retrospect, taking on a Drider may have not been her best idea. Especially when she didn’t know where it had even come from in the first place.

“Where is she?” the creature announced, lunging towards the dancer. “If you don’t want to be my next dinner, you will bring that bimbo to me.”

Boko still went in for the charge, getting flung through a wall. It did get her right too Lya, which might not be the best thing in the world. While the goddess had at least attempted to keep her sleepwear ‘modest’, it did little in the way of extinguishing the ‘lady of the night’ vibe she gave off. So she slipped into her evening dress. Even though it was morning and stuff.

“Mistress, Boko found intruder!” she announced, reverting back to her other form. “It’s a large spider thing!”

Lya took a deep breath, as a second woman approached. Unlike the twilight messenger, they were dressed in a green business suit. A pair of verdant eyes stare over her ‘new’ dancer, while butterflies lightly flutter in a bun of auburn hair.

“You don’t have to say it, Gaea.” Lya muttered and took a deep breath right after. “Just let me handle this.”

Gaea gave a nod, following her wife along as the trio returned to the living room.

While only mere moments had really passed between Boko’s arrival into the bedroom and the trio, the drider had already gone to town on this home.

“Loloth!” Lya announced, slowly approaching the drider. “Let me guess. Distant Harmony tore through your little slice of paradise?”

“Shut up…”

Yet, Lya got down on her knees and sat down beside the drider.

“Get away from me, you bitch.” Loloth continued, attempting to scurry away. “I will not be your girlfriend! Ever! If anything, I am as straight as a board and we both know it!”

With each word that came out of the drider’s mouth, it came that much harder for her hold the laughter in.

“You’ve drunkenly cried yourself to sleep telling me about that snake demon lady you were going to marry, only to have them be take into some adventuring party far too many times.” the twilight messenger countered, muttering something under her breath. Whatever it was, the drider turned into a more manageable drow. Of course, that didn't explain the black kimono decorated with knives. A pair of kimono flip-flops with tabi socks covered the leg and feet area. Her white hair was styled in a strange ‘updo’ sort of style, with some decorative beads thrown in. Of course, the rage-filled eyes of the drow goddess were on full display at the moment. “And let's not get started on all the regrets you have in make your son your husband thing.”

That remark resulted in a slap, which I guess was justified.

“Like you’ve been all sunshine and rose, miss slut.” Loloth snarled, getting a glare from Gaea. “What? Going to flash me those pathetic tits of yours in the hopes of somehow taking me?”

That was not the action the second mother took. Instead, she went for something far simpler. A lip-to-lip maneuver to Lya.

“Boo! Boko wants some too!” Boko announced, getting a look from Gaea. For the moment, it might be best to just let them figure this out.

“Just stop it, you lesbos!” Loloth finally announced, just done with all of this. “Just give me a dang room! And maybe I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Both goddesses's attention returned to her.

“So, should we?” Lya remarked, looking towards Gaea. While the second mother was skeptical, she was willing to give this a shot. The lady in pink had finally reached a point that she could do her duties without causing any bigger problems. What was another goddess at this point. Maybe if she played her cards right, she could have someone to help with this mess.

“I’m fine with it.” Gaea muttered, motioning for the drow goddess to follow. “Just don’t cause trouble.”   
“Of course.” Loloth remarked, already plotting her next way to get back at Lya. But that will probably be a story for another time.


	18. Rune's Atonement pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Better late than never.

Wakey Wakey…

Rune’s eyes slowly fluttered open.

Gone was the coast of Ragnis. Heck, even Ebyssia in general. Nor was this even Pelor’s Fortress of the Sun(yes, that is really the name he went with), judging by the ruins of the tropical town set against a dark red sky below.

“And you would be?” the priest remarked, a laugh serving as his initial answer.  
I have many names. The gentlemanly asshole, chosen, the neko empress. But most of which have no meaning for someone like you and/or make it more confusing for our viewers. As such, there is one name in particular that you may refer to me by.

“And what would that be?” Rune remarked.

I am Evil TK, the wonderful narrator who was kind enough to babysit you. It’s not like I have a family and duties that require my full attention and stuff.

“Doesn’t ring any bells. Was it supposed to?”

Not really. I just wanted one name that I could be referred to by without all the baggage. But that’s beyond the point. I’m here to keep track of you.

The narrator’s latest remark did little in the way of soothing Rune’s confusion. If anything, it probably just made it even worse. Not that was a hard thing to really do currently.

“Where did Pelor go then?”

Beat’s me. When I got my instructions to narrate you, he was already gone. I guess he had better things to do than babysit an asshole like you.

Rune pulled his mace out, searching for the source of his tormentor. As it would turn out, they were nowhere in the immediate vicinity. Truly a shame. If it helps, I've been in your shoes before.

Instead of focusing on our narrator's attempt at bridging the gap, our priest’s attention focused on what was below him.I’ve been in your shoes before.

The priest’s attention shifted away from the sky and to the ground below. Outside of the decaying bodies, there seemed to be some signs of coconuts and tropical drinks. Not at all edible, sadly. There’s nothing down there, outside of the crazed robot things.

“Robot thing?” Rune remarked, only to do a double take. Mostly because he was not expecting to have share his rock with someone. Let alone the person

Standing before him was the titular Evil TK. With his titular guns and sheer ability to cheat death, Rune would have quite a challenge ahead of him.

“Why thank you.” our narrator announced and motioned for the priest to go first. “Give me your best shot.”

Rune charged forth, pulling his mace back in preparation of striking. Or would’ve, if a bullet hadn’t whizzed by and caught him by surprise.

“So, what your story?” Evil TK remarked as he watched Rune continue his charge. All he got was silence that time. So the gentlemanly asshole fired off a second shot. While it didn’t hit his target, the buttons were pressed further. “Me, where the fuck do we even b-”

The collision between Rune’s mace and Evil TK’s skull brought an end to that sentence. And while he did collapse to the floor, it didn’t seem like an end for our asshole here. It probably felt more like a nice massage than anything. As weird as that may possibly sound.

Another round of bullets followed as we entered our third round of combat. Or was it fourth? Hard to really know here. Nor does it matter, since our narrator decided to go with the natural thing in this situation. Try and fling Rune off the battlefield. What else were you thinking? Actually have a proper battle? Boo. There’s no fun in that.

And by fling, I mean that he grabbed hold of the priest and made his way towards the edge of the rock.

“Let go of me!” Rune announced as he tried to break free from the gentlemanly asshole’s grip. A task that would be quite a bit harder than you would it would be. Especially when things aren’t quite what they seem to be.

So Rune went for another swing of the mace. Bad move. Especially since Evil TK countered with a kick to the groin.

“Feel free to hate me.” Evil TK announced and took a cautious step forward. “It’ll just make me stronger.”

His grip loosened as gravity did the rest of the work. Rune could only watch as the world twirled about and the rock began to grow smaller and smaller.

Eventually, he felt something rough... coming right as his body collided with the sand.  

“Ugh…”

Once Rune had dusted himself off, it was time to look over the area he found himself in.

While the rock and the red sky were still visible, Evil TK had returned to wherever he was narrating from. That asshole. Withered palm trees had been scattered all throughout the area with a large sign to boot. Didn’t explain the bubble lettering that was displaying the message though.

_Welcome to Heck_

_Population: Just you_

**To be continued…**


	19. A clearer picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because why else have a roller coaster in a fantasy setting?

It wasn’t often that Crimson got to see Sivella twice in the same calendar year. Between all the traveling across the various parts of ebyssia and her girlfriend being cooped up in Frovia, it was usually a miracle (or forced day off) when their schedules would actually connect and they could get away for an hour, maybe two tops.

Things were different now. There was no doubting that at all.

Sure, it was still unlikely for the next while that the pair would actually get to make a day just to be together. But now, all Crimson needed to do was just pray and she could at least see her beloved.

Right now, that was not the focus of their meeting. No, it was something else far simpler.

“Hold still.” Sivella whispered as she held a hand up, energy swirling around around. “So, what happened to your eyes?”

Crimson focused on her feet. While didn’t matter to the rest of them, it was best to come clean with the one she loved.

“I got offered a job by distant harmony.” she whispers, each word bringing with a mix of anger and realization. “They wanted a succubus to guard a half-orc.”

The moment she finishes that sentence, it becomes crystal clear. Tears began to flow down as Sivella disengaged her magic, instead choosing to let her arms wrap around Crimson.

“This is about her, isn’t it?” Sivella continued, trying her best to comfort the dancer. “I’m sorry.”

A head shake, her droplets finally reaching the floor.

“No, this is my fault.” Crimson whispered, accepting her girlfriend’s gesture. “I should’ve known that she would do that.”

Sivella turned her girlfriend around, pulling her in for a kiss.

“Better now?” she whispered and got a nod in return. After, the archfey let go.

“Yeah.” Crimson whispered and watched her girlfriend began what she was doing beforehand.

“Now hold still.”

Crimson complied, feeling her beloved’s hand pass over her face. It felt nice.

“Better now?” Sivella whispered and watched Crimson open her eyes. Instead of the dark slits from before, a pair of pale blue eyes stared back.

A nod, followed by the pulling out of both her gold pouch and the crab bow.

Slowly, the dancer put down gold piece after gold piece until quite a pile sat there.

“Would this be enough?” Crimson whispers, handing her bow over. Only for Sivella to hand it back.

“Crimson, what are you doing?” the archfey responded, gazing towards the gold before her. While she wasn't quite used to people handing

“I was making an offering to you.” Crimson answered, a confused look being her answer. So she took a deep breath. “When people want you do something as their god, they’ll leave things such as gold or other valuable materials.”

Still confusion. But eventually, Sivella does get it.

“Since you made my bow, I want you to enhance it.”

A nod, followed by a whisper as goods and gold are exchanged. Then dancing by way of the succubus coming right after.

.

“Hmm…”

As Whip’s ‘cohort’, Yelena found herself in an interesting conundrum.

While the warlock was making quite a bit of progress as her dragonkith, it brought with it the need to be constantly hunting down accessories.

Today was one of those sort of days.

“What should we do with your hair?” she whispered, running part of her wing through it. While the blonde curls left little in the way of actual styling, maybe the warlock could get away with an accessory or two. “How does twintails sound?”

“I could live with it.” Whip answered as Yelena’s gaze shifts away from her and to the room itself. While the change from one temple to another had changed the house itself, the actual contents seemed untouched by anyone. Except for Church-kun, who was slightly closer to the entrance now. “Would you like some help?”

Yelena gave a nod and the duo made their way towards the pile of stuff. It was probably once Yuzi’s. Kind of like the crate of action figures found in her dance hall. This wasn’t as nice as that.

“Let’s see here.” Whip whispered as she pushed some boxes away, revealing what looked to be to be a pair of pink ribbons and a piece of paper.

_*Mommy left me for another mommy.*_

_*So I’ll be my own mommy, giving pain as my love to my children. *_

_*Daddy swore his hand to the devil himself.*_

_*So I give my other hand to a different demon.*_

_*From my mountain, my revenge will come.*_

Both wyvern and warlock gave each a quick look, grabbing the ribbons in the process. Then it was back to their spot.

“I need you to hold still, Princess.” Yelena whispered and Whip complied. Mostly. While she was allowing the wyvern to mess with her hair, something seemed to be on her mind.

“Can I ask you something?” she whispered,

“Of course.”

A deep breath.

“Why are you giving me this stuff?” the warlock continued, only for her cohort to turn her away from her hair.

“Do you know what my people did?” Yelena whispered, taking the time to scan for anyone nearby. Once she was certain that no one was, she returned to Whip.

“Not really. But it had to be really bad for what happened.”

A nod.

“We hurt a whole lot of people, so we had paid for it with a  huge consequence.” the wyvern continued, continuing her work. “So in order to show that we won’t do such a thing, we take in people like you and raise them as Dragonkith. When both parties become adults, they become engaged to each other.”

Whip nodded, which came right as the first ‘tail’ of her hair was complete. She was sort of following this. Which by eight year old standards, was quite impressive.

“So why are you not affected?”

Yelena took a deep breath.

“I assure you, it affects me as the others.” the wyvern whispered. “As I get older, my wings will eventually break and my dress.”

“Oh.” Whip whispered, another question forming in her head. “Is it painful?”

“Very. They usually put the ones in the process of changing on one of the coasters to hide the screams.” Yelena mumbled, finishing off the second ‘tail’ as best she could. “How’s that?”

Whip felt her hair up, giving a thumb up right after.


	20. Meet the Bronz?

As a whole, Bronz wanted to travel more.

On paper, that sounded perfect for the world-shaper being the god of earth and strength and all. But with all the bodies that still need to be buried and the dinos on the island itself, this was easier said than done.

“Time to get up, Topsy.” he whispered, watching his triceratops dancer slowly rouse from their slumber. “I know this is a bit early for both of us, but I like to make a trip to Frovia of all places.”

Topsy just grunted.

“If given the choice, I would rather just let sleeping dogs sleep on. But, it would just be better to just tell her.”

That answer was good enough for the triceratops. He gave their crater a slight ‘wave’ and the two headed for the edge of their island. A bit of wading followed, which also meant Bronz having to carry his dancer across.

On the other side, it was a short walk past Wyvos. They weren’t bound to run into anyone, right?

“My, What do we have here?”

Speak of the devil, Apocalypse made his entrance.

“Topsy, behind me.” Bronz whispered and watched his dancer comply. After, his attention turned to the skeletal dragon. “Been awhile. Last I heard you were dropped into a hole and forgotten.”

Apocalypse rolled his eyes.

“I got better.” the skeletal dragon muttered, his attention focused on the deity. “Nice to see that after all these years you're owning up to your part in this mess.”

Bronz just sighed.

“Says the dragon who was convinced that he was a wyvern.” the dino countered, setting his dancer down finally.

“Whatever, old man.” Apocalypse muttered, watching the pair head off.

With that, it was time to head through Gaea’s woods. While the second mother wasn’t there at the moment, they did make sure to leave her a couple oranges.

“Hopefully she'll like this kind.”

Topsy gave a nod, depositing the bag at the walled garden ‘doorstep’.

“Just a little bit further, Topsy.” the dinosaur deity explained, getting a nod from his triceratops companion. Neither was acclimated to such environments or really liked travelling through it either. But they pushed on.on.

In front of them, Frovia stood defiant in silence for the pair. All that was between them and the actual town was the sole entrance in the mountain itself. Oh and the flowers poking through the snow too. Can’t forget that as well.

So they made their way over and made sure not to crush a single flower.

“Hello?” Bronz whispered, giving the ‘door’ a slight headbutt. At first, it would seem that the motion was not recognised by the giants running the gate. Eventually, the wall lifted up and revealed a pair of those weird succubi fey hybrids. “Oh. You’re a lot smaller than I remember you guys being. Could you tell me where I can find Sivella or one of the frost giants?”

Both guards shook their heads, watching the dino pair very carefully make their way inside. While the area inside was still quite warm, it brought with it a different sort of feeling. Though, neither Bronz or Topsy could put their finger on what it was exactly.

Whatever the case, they headed on up.

Compared to our last visit, there seemed to be far more of the fey succubus things than before. Might want to come up with a name for them. Eh, later.

“Could you by any chance tell me where we can find Sivella?” Bronz remarked, only to get a bunch of head shakes in return. “Do you know when she will come back?”

No answer. So the pair decided to do the natural thing in this situation. Go to the dance hall and knock. And by knock, I mean smash the door open.

Still no Sivella. It did get the attention of a silver dragon that was prowling around though.

“Nice dragon?” Bronz whispered, watching the large winged beast slowly approach. “We didn’t mean any trouble.”

A sigh.

“Just fix it up.” the dragon muttered, shooting the pair a glance and watched the pair make their exit. “The nerve of some people…”


	21. Joy of Life

Lulu was not having a good day. Which on top of being pregnant, no one here in Frovia seemed to have actual child-rearing experience. You would think the nurse of all people would, but their experience took the form of healing people back from cliff-induced injuries.

But outside of that, it seemed like an alright day. Minus the weird fey succubi things, of course. I wouldn’t mind having a couple around the flower shop. Do you think we can send someone down and grab a few?

“You don’t sound like the regular narrator.” the ranger muttered, pacing about the house that their group was borrowing. While by giant standard quite cramped, it was more than enough to fit the members of team underdark or whatever they were calling themselves. “We don’t even have a team name. But that works.”

A groan, then a slight kick from the stomach area.

We’re not. But just pretend that we are for the moment. The narrator is asleep.

“Good to know?” Ironshroom announced as the party returned their attention to their pregnant ranger. “Anything we can do for you Lulu?”   
All that got them was a headshake. Which isn’t the most helpful thing in the world when the ranger fell over in pain.

“You haven’t pissed off Loloth, I hope?” Mistress Triel added, shooting ‘Slave’ a look. “This is most definitely your fault.”

Yet the other drow shook his head, not even daring to poke 

“The last time you had to scold me was when I refused to board that dragon chick.” Slave muttered, getting the crack of a whip.

“That was our one ticket of getting off that stupid island!”

You could’ve just asked one of the heroes, numbskulls. This isn’t rocket science. Just a matter of saying the magic words and hoping to god these… people say yes. That’s how Dungeons and Dragons works right?

All that announcement brought was confusion, especially when Lulu began stripping her armor off.

“It’s coming!” the ranger screeched.

Oh right. You’re pregnant and stuff. This would be the part where you find that bard of yours and he plays a tune.

“I have a triangle, what do you expect me to play?” Tiberius announced, getting a look from everyone inside.

Music. How about that. It can be as awful as you want. It just needs to be enough to keep your friend from hitting either of your stupid drow or the wa-

Almost on cue, a woman smashed through. For this occasion, she was dressed in a dark blue sundress. Which didn’t really look like a certain dancer’s outfit at all. Though, that probably doesn’t explain her purplish brown hair or the pair of amber eyes that gazes over these people. Not that it really matters.

“Sorry about that.” the woman announced, giving the pregnant ranger a quick look. “Just a little more and the baby should pop out.”

Lulu nodded, pushing even harder now. While such efforts seemed unhelpful, eventually…

“It’s coming!”

Out popped a baby boy. 

“Aw…” Mistress Triel announced, slowly making her approach. “May I have him?”

Lulu shot her a look.

“No.” the ranger muttered and turned her attention to the woman. “Thank you for that.”

Their guest gave a nod and headed towards the door.

“Happy to do my part.” she answered as she made her exit.

Back outside, our mystery woman took a deep breath. While it wouldn’t be that far of a walk back to the dancer’s cabin home thing, it was kind of embarrassing to be flung out by your wife.

“You don’t need to remind me.” she whispered, a deep breath following right after. “So, how have you two been doing?”

Alright, outside of the whole dimension reformatting into a proper world. Which actually isn’t half bad. We got our flower shop and what remains of my family.

“That’s good to hear.” the woman continued, her temporary residence coming into view. While the hole in the dancer’s home could be repaired, both she and her wife suspected that an explanation might be in order. Personally, we would just say there was an accident. If asked what that accident was, you say ‘a strange wind blew one of us back’. That always gets them.

“How many times have you had to use that one?”   
No comment.

Whatever the case, the woman entered her temporary home.

Compared to the outside, both women had made an effort to keep any messes they made to a minimum. But as she came upon the scattered pile of her wife's red plate armor, the woman was going to have to look past it.

“Sorry about that.” a voice called out as she approached. A black catfolk laid on the floor, a trio of dragon eggs and a couple kittens surrounding her. “I do trust that you didn't fly far?”

The woman nodded, sitting down beside her wife.

“It's alright.” she whispered and let a smile sneak it's way onto her face. “It's just like old times, my little gambler.”

The gambler gave her a chuckle.

“Well then, my big corsair.” she continued and leaned in for a quick kiss. “Any regrets about this?”

The corsair shakes her head. While this wasn’t really part of their plans (none of this really was), they could manage. Especially when they got to see the first cracks on the eggs. Then another. Eventually, all three eggs began to shake about and out popped three little silver dragon hatchlings. Whether or not any catfolk parts managed to make it in is unknown. Nor do we really care.

They care at least, I hope. While they probably should be tending to their children, a matter of just as great importance had come up.

“Jestery is here!” a certain someone announced, revealing themselves to be Jestery. Sivella followed right behind. “This is the best day of Jestery’s life.”

I doubt that. What about the day you got married? Or how about the time you took a vacation with your old friends.

“No comment.”

Before the jester could dive onto the newly born children, the corsair scooped them up and set them on the bed.

“Can Jestery please cuddle with them?” Jestery explained and got a look. “Didn't you want to check out that adventuring party. I could play with them and make sure there safe.”

The corsair shot her wife a glance. In return, she got a nod.

“You got yourself a deal.” the gambler answered. “When do we need to head off?”


	22. Corsair & Dancer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A non-canon thingy.

As a whole, an effort is made so that each character is unique with their own sets of beliefs and goals. But sometimes, parts of one character can match up with that of another.

This is one of those cases.

“So you're dressed just like me.” Elena announced as she made her way over to the dancer. “Would you mind if I looked you over?”

Crimson nodded, watching her observer make a couple revolutions around her. Which made it the perfect opportunity to do the same to the corsair. Sure, there was a difference in shades of blue. But it come down to how dark it was. One could compare the style of the garment between Elena's sundress and Crimson's sari., but that was just comparing two dresses from two different culture. Oh I know. How about hair color. Surely there’s some connection between metallic pink and puce, right?

“Uh…” both girls started, stepping away from each other. But not too much.

Sorry about that. Got carried away.

“So, what's your weapon of choice?” Elena continued and held out a pair of dag- I mean kris. They look like little pie slicers, except a bit more twisted and stuff. Which didn’t really explain why a single piece of peridot had been inserted into the hilt of each blade. Like seriously, you’re not going to see it in action at all. “These are my mine.”

Carefully, Crimson slipped her bow off her back. She held it out and watched the corsair look it over. A mix of confusion and interest was all she got.

“So it's a bow then? How do you even fire it?” Elena continued and watched her audience pull the weapon back and straighten out the bow limbs. Once done, the weapon was held up for both women to see it better. “One more question. Could we see it in action?”

Digging into her bag, The firing of the arrow follows. The corsair took it, even it bounced off her skin. It also got her a look from her wife. “It was an honest question, Alice.”   
The gambler took a deep breath.

“Just because you’re part dragon now doesn’t mean you can just willy-nilly tank it all.” Alice remarked, a question coming to her. “Something on your mind?”

The succubi took a deep breath.

“I’m guessing you’re the ones who are using my room?” Crimson remarked as she slipped her bow onto her back. After, her attention returned to the pair.

“Uh… Of course! We’ve tried our best to keep it from turning into a pigsty.” Elena answered as Alice nodded in the background. “Though, we are having someone babysit and who knows what they’ll do.”

Crimson took a deep breath and chuckled.

“Just make sure that the place is cleaned up.” the dancer remarked. “I highly doubt I’ll be anywhere near Frovia for a while.”   
Though, there is an argument of just flying. Or how about just teleporting? You’re bound to get a lot farther if you do that. Oh wait. What about the weather stuff.

“I’m fairly certain if I leave them, they’ll either get themselves killed or Toko will do something completely stupid.” she muttered, making a glance towards her companions. Who were very very still. Or were, up until a couple seconds ago. “That, and I got to see my girlfriend the other day.”

Elena perked up.

“I’m guessing that’s the archfey?” the corsair remarked and got a nod. “She seems quite nice. If I was single I might wa-”

Another arrow.

“Just teasing, of course.” the corsair remarked and caught a glance from her wife. “Admit it. You had your eyes on someone else too.”   
Alice just rolled her eyes.

“Nice try.” she muttered and turned to our succubus. “Anything else?”

Crimson shook her head.

“Not really.” she answered.

“Uh… thanks for talking with us and stuff.” Alice remarked, Elena choosing to joining her right after. The kris went away and the corsair resumed whatever position she was in before this point. “We don’t get to do this often.”

Crimson shot them a look, only to let it pass. Then she took a position similar to the one she was in for next session.


	23. Rune's Atonement pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait.

When we last left off, our resident priest had found himself in Heck and would need to find a way out.

Of course, that was not to be. A meeting was held and a decision was made. Which brings us to this present moment. In what looks to be the ruins of a giant arena, our priest is about to face his greatest challenge yet.

“Really now?” Rune announced and let out a sigh. “Could you at least explain why the fuck there are three of her?”   
Beat’s me. She’s my other boss’s daughter. Personally, she probably grabbed two alternate versions of herself in the hopes that you would be more willing to listen to her.

“Yeah Rune!” Jestery #1 announced as her two companions surrounded him. “There’s been a change of plans and Rune’s number has been asked back.”

The priest shot the first jester a confused glance, getting a shrug in return.

“That doesn’t explain why there has to be three of you.” Rune remarked and pulled his mace out. While he was flanked, there was still room to strike at least one of them and run for it. If he was lucky, I guess. Considering how badly his luck was in our previous part, I find that possibility unlikely.

He still went for the swing.

“Rune hasn’t learned anything from this, has he?” Jestery #2 remarked and snapped her fingers. Rune felt his body froze up, his mace dropping right onto his foot. Ouch. “Not that Rune matters in the grand scheme of the universe.”

Their attention turned to the third jester.

“What Jestery’s trying to say is that Rune being down here in heck was a pointless exercise in futility.” Jestery #3 announced and picked the mace up. A bonk to the back of the head followed. Which didn't really do that much to Rune. Probably just made him angrier. “Jestery's means no harm. We're just doing Jestery's job.””

With that, two of the jestery’s disappeared, leaving just the one. I guess she wanted the numbers initially?

“Much better?” Jestery continued and watched Rune shake his head. “Too bad. Jestery has to do a lot more work with Rune.”

Another snap, this time signaling the appearance of a Toko doll. Which was promptly flung towards the priest.

“What do you want me to do with this?”

Jestery took a deep breath and resisted all urges to hurt Rune. If anything, this was not her call. Divine intervention or something.

“Hit it, throw it, anything!” the jester continued and looked around. “Before Rune can go tumbling through the sky, we ne-”

Jestery was cut off by the plush slamming in her stomach.

“Rune now level 12 or something and on track with the rest of the party. Pick a perk later, Jestery guess.”

With that, our resident guide grabbed hold of Rune and dragged him out of the arena. Along the way, Rune saw this as the perfect opportunity to just strike Jestery. Multiple times in fact. Not that it really phased the jester. At all.

“What does Rune see in braining Jestery? If anything, you could aim for Jestery’s back. Jestery hasn’t had a good massage in quite a while.”

That remark did little in the way of changing the area of the body that Rune was aiming for. So Jestery did the natural thing in this situation. She grabbed the mace for herself and shoved into wherever

“Jestery’s now. Rune will get it back when he departs.”

Rune just rolled his eyes and continued to make swings at the jester. So Jestery extended her arms out. Which looks quite hilarious from where I’m standing.

“Thank you, captain obvious.” the priest muttered as Jestery came to a stop, turning around to face him. Some pushing followed, with Rune finding himself in a kneeling position. “Now what?”

“This is the part where Jestery needs you to be very still.” the jester muttered and pointed out into the distance. There, a small group of massive titans stood garbed in outfits reminiscent of that of an angel couple. Draped in white with their feathery wings, they brought with them a sense of grace and power.

Sadly, they were not the (mostly) nice celestial creatures you would find in other worlds. “Stay behind Jestery and you shouldn’t get hurt. Too badly, at least.”

Rune shot her a look, but complied. While sneaking around around wasn't his forte, the ‘angels’ were more keen on beating the crud out of some large armored figure than the pair.

“What were those things?!” Rune remarked, giving the weird celestials one more glance I  passing.

“Those are angels.” Jestery muttered, her tone changing with that statement. “They are not ‘things’ that you overpower with just brute force alone. No, they are more of a mental game. Which the party seems to lack in.”

The pair passed a katana stuck in the dirt. Tombstones circled the blade, with our jester taking the time to pay her respects. Rune just watched on.

More walking followed, a large beach castle finally came into view. Coming with this wonderful piece of sandstone and coral (well, I think it’s coral at least) architecture, was old lady Vanessa and her sprite. They didn't look too happy. Especially since Vanes- 

“That’s not my name you idiot!”

I mean Clarissa. Sorry, I have far too many names to keep track of these days.

“Whatever.” Clarissa muttered and let her attention turn to Rune. “We’ll make this quick.”

With that, our quite unlucky priest got his mace back was grabbed by our black mage. A portal followed, the party just barely visible below.

“Have fun.”

Clarissa jumped on through, flinging Rune on through not to his death. Trust us on that. We’re professionals in throwing people.


	24. Sleepy Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We check on some people via dream world. It's quite handy.

Lya was never sure how to feel about this. Even as she stood in what was most definitely Jestery's realm, it always put her on edge. Until a better solution to teaching prayers to one's clergy was found, this was the easiest way to do it. Which brought her to the other elephant in the room that somehow relates to this.

On one hand, it was kind of refreshing having a priest that wasn’t a human or a succubus. But a living church of all things, that was a different story.

“Hello, miss Lya.” Church-kun greeted and attempted to bow. Keep word being ‘attempted’ at least. “How have you been?”

For this occasion, the twilight messenger had gone for an evening dress that actually could be worn outside without getting looks from most people. Though, I suspect Church-kun wouldn't really care either way.

“Quite well, outside of some minor things.” Lya continued, pulling out what looked to be a prayer scroll from… somewhere. While Jestery wouldn't mind knowing where Lya was keeping that, something tells Jestery it's better off not knowing. 

Whatever the case, Lya made her way over to Church-kun and handed over the scroll. The church accepted the gift. Then it was a few steps back for the twilight messenger.

“I'll be teaching you Sunstrike tonight.” Lya explained and took a deep breath. “Can you copy my gestures?”

Church-kun nodded, moving his body to a place that could be seen by Lya.

Once he was in the right position, the twilight messenger held her hands out in front of her bust. Church-kun did his best to copy, only for a beam of yellow light to shoot out.

“Did me do it right?” he remarked and got a nod from Lya in return. “Yay!”

This time, it would seem that our church here has gotten the whole ‘bouncing up-and-down’ thing in the book. Even though there is probably an argument to be made about his actual acrobatic abilities.

“Just one more scroll today.” Lya explained as she pulled out a second scroll. This time, she threw it underhand and watched Church-kun run in that general direction. 

“Me got it!” the church announced as he held out his hands in the Hope's of grabbing his prize. “Me got it, me got it, me go-”

The scroll hit his head, sliding on down into his hands after the fact. Whatever the case, he opened the scroll up and looked over the contents.

“Why is it the same thing listed over and over, miss Lya?”

But all he got was a chuckle from the twilight messenger. 

“Just read it.” Lya explained, getting a nod from the church. Church-kun cleared his throat and shifted his gaze to the scroll itself. 

“You are a mad mad person. You are a mad mad person. You are a mad mad person…”

No response, judging by the lack of any change in expression on the deity's face. So Church-kun cleared his throat and tried again. 

“You are a mad mad person. You are a mad mad person. You are a mad mad person…”

This time, our church managed to get a reaction out of Lya. That took the form of her running around and screaming… for some reason. Jestery won't judge.

“Me want you to calm down!” Church-kun chanted, bringing forth calm emotions in the hopes of not having to deal with a temporarily crazed deity at the moment. It was surprisingly effective, even if Jestery thinks it was more of the light tap from him rather than the prayer itself. 

“That is all, Church-kun.” Lya explained as she made a portal appear behind her.

“Of course, miss Lya.”

With that, the two went their separate ways. 

.

As for Crimson, things were looking up.

“Hey.” the dancer whispered as she took her beloved in. While Sivella hadn't changed in any way physically, seeing her in what looked to be her old baggy pajamas was a sight to behold. While the ‘wannabe succubi’ pajama set she had bought in Luxor a couple years ago for her were holding up nicely on the archfey's body, it was clear that this was more for giants than fey. The fabric drooped all about, which made it a challenge to keep the wings and heart-tipped tail up in the proper position.

“Sorry about stopping by in Ragnis and just leaving all in a rush.”

Sivella shook her head and walked over to Crimson. While the constant time apart had brought with it a fair share of stress, the couple had mostly embraced it.

“It's alright.” the loving fey answered, wrapping her dancer in a soft yet firm hug. “You probably had other things going on that prevented you and your friends from staying the night.”

While that might have been the case, was it really? If anything, Sivella should be blaming the person running  this for their haphazard pacing and what not. There the real culprit here.

Jestery's remark went unheard or perhaps, ignored. After, our two lovers ended their embrace and shifted their attention to a nearby bookcase. Unlike Lya's method of teaching, Yuzi's had been along the line of ‘here's some pretty pictures I hope you understand them’. Which as result, left our archfey here with a less than stellar education. Or in other words, manga without any words. If such a thing even exists.

“Let's see what's up for today.” Crimson muttered and scanned the bookcase, coming upon the pair of books she was looking for. But when she went to grab the pair, a different book fell out. “What’s this?”

The dancer picked the book up and blew on the cover.

Weather Domain for idiots

Crimson took a deep breath, resisting the urge to smash the book into a million pieces. While she had hoped to be done with the whole Yuzi mess, this was just another little thing from beyond the grave. So the dancer opened the pages of the long forgotten book and held it out in such a way that they could both see it.

From the looks of things, it told the story of a pair of girls (surprise surprise) learning to control their powers. One of the girls is the child of a sun goddess and a war god, only the sun goddess has gotten herself a wife in the form of a nature goddess. She was adamant at first that she didn’t need two mommies, but eventually warms up to her. Kind of a shame Yuzi didn't read it.

“I guess that means we've been pulling from the wrong weather book.” Sivella remarked and watched her girlfriend just sigh. Carefully, she let her arms wrap around Crimson for another embrace. She accepted it.

“Thanks.” the dancer whispered as the two broke away once more and sat themselves down. “Chapter 1, This is my new mom? What was wrong with the other one?”

She gave the initial page a second look, finding that the title of the chapter hadn't changed.

“Wait. That's the title we're going with?”

So the dancer took a deep breath, trying to hold back a chuckle. Which got her a look from her beloved.

“Something wrong?” Sivella asked, only for Crimson to shake her head.

“I wasn't expecting that to be how we started this.”

While the book was ‘educational’ in the way of prayer and some other questionable things, it wasn't the sort of thing that you would read in your off time. The last time Jestery checked, actual sex does not have hand hand motions or conjuring up lightning storms. Nor does pie making involve obscuring the area in a cloud of mist at all. Though, Jestery is forbidden from doing either of those things.

“That's… good to know.” Sivella remarked as Crimson put what looked to be a bookmark in. “Can we?”

Crimson chuckled. Even in her dreams, I guess. So she brought her mask out and applied it to her beloved. In place of the archfey was now a life sized plush of her. Cuddling followed right after. 

.

As for Whip, a balancing act was in order. While she didn't really care for this part, it was necessary in order to be at the peak of her skill or something. Well, that was what Yelena told her at least.

“Come over to me, Princess.” Yelena cooed as she caught a look from her opponent - the Lady in Pink.

For something that was most likely a blob of pink energy or something like that, they had made the effort to put clothes on. Which were probably stolen/’gifted’ from Lya. They took the form of a lace nightgown. 

Yelena on the other hand, was kind of an interesting story. Clad in what appeared to be a Victorian-style dress and crinoline, she was making quite an impression. While it did match the color of her scales, that didn't make it hard to distinguish out the pink highlights on top of all the lace, frills and sequins in the garment itself. Especially when one took the time to admire her gloves, which extended up to the halfway point of the arms. I guess those wings weren’t meant to be, sadly.

Let’s not even get started on the shoes. Made of what looks to be leather, they have a slight heel and were decorated with lace and ribbon. Finishing off all of this, was a pair of long wool socks.

Which brings us to the head.

The general shape and placement of features had gone unchanged on the head, the appearance had. A coat of white powder covered the wyvern's face while what looked to be some rudimentary mascara was smoothed around the eyes. But it would seem that Yelena wasn't quite daring enough to try some lipstick or rouge. Well, not quite yet. At least. As for her mane, it was a different story. Tied up into what looked to be be a ‘crown’ of sorts, it seemed quite a bit shorter than one expected to find on a wyvern. Which would make up for the lack of a hat on said head.

Jestery doesn’t want to describe that again. At all.

Oh right. Back to the story itself.

“Your allegiance, child.” LiP echoed, trying their best to focus in on her. If given the option, she would said to hell with it and just grab both. But that wasn't the case. So she picked the one that looked the nicest at the moment - Yelena.

“I’m sorry.” Whip whispered as she found herself picked up by her cohort. “So this is what you’ll look like in the future?”

A nod, followed by a head shake.

“Maybe, it that is what you want.” Yelena explained, trying her best to not stumble in a pair of shoes that she had never worn before this time. “It is my job to help you reach your dream, within reason of course.”

Whip gave a nod, letting her focus shift away from her cohort and to herself. In between all that happened between getting kicked out of Flotsam, meeting Cherra and the party and gaining the trust of Yelena among many other things, thoughts about the future sounded silly… almost hilarious even. So she tried her best (by eight year old standards) and gave it some thought.

“I want to be a princess who makes guns and helps people.” Whip explained, only to realize what she had just said. “Uh… maybe start my own company where I can show off my work and be with you?”

While her initial answer was a bit rough, the follow-up did get her a bit of a chuckle.

“I would be fine with that.” Yelena answered as she pulled Whip in for a hug. “Though, we have plenty of time to get this whole relationship thing down, Princess.”

She got a nod for that. In the meantime, they could just be friends. Yeah, that could work. Of course, that left our warlock here with an idea.

“Want to try something?” Whip whispered and began digging into the pockets of her dress. Eventually, out popped what looked to be a pistol - a derringer, to be exact. Like much of Whip’s ensemble, it was a bright pink color, with the metal parts being dyed purple. Just barely, one could make out the phrase ‘Lily Blaze’ emblazoned on the barrel in yellow ink and flowery lettering. 

Yelena’s gaze shifted away from her partner and went over to the firearm of all things. She did let Whip off though.

“Of course, Princess.” she whispered and Whip handed the weapon over. Then it was back on the warlock. “So I just need to aim and pull the trigger?”

Whip nodded as a couple floating bottles appeared. They appear to be some sort of generic wild magic potion. Totally not extra liquid of jes. Jestery is still learning how to make them. Contrary to popular belief, there not piss. I’m not sure where that rumor even started.

Whatever the case, Yelena took aim and fired.

If this had been an actual combat situation, the wyvern would’ve been surrounded. Here though, the shots eventually make it to the bottles.

“Did I do it right?” she inquired, taking the time to change her gloves. As necessary of a victorian-style lady. Whip nodded and cleared her throat.

“Do you prefer your wings over the dress?” the warlock whispered, waiting for the answer to come from Yelena. But when none came, she took a step towards her cohort.

“My wings.” the wyvern finally answered and pushed from the inside of the dress. But try as she might, nothing happened. “But what I think doesn’t matter. Eventually, my wings will break and my hands will co-

But Whip shakes her head.

“I’ll be your wings then.” she explained, putting a hand on Yelena’s dress. Which for some reason, was the signal for Whip’s dress to change. The addition of shoulder pads and more intricate patterns. It’s the sort of thing that makes this whole thing ironic to some extent. But Jestery will bite her tongue. She has other things to be doing in this moment. “Pinky swear.”

Yelena just nods and holds her pinky out. Well, she think it’s her pinky. This whole digit thing is hard. But nonetheless, she accepts the gesture.

That was the least she could do.


	25. Meet the Heroes Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're probably wondering why this is here again. Well... We got a warforged and a talking wolf. Yeah. These are the people I'm working with.

We come upon a large plain in the middle of a wonderful place known as… Ebyssia. While quite peaceful (as D&D settings go), small conflicts have a tendency of breaking out.

In this particular case, we come across a large group of adventurers taking on a group of individuals dressed in cloaks with plain masks over their faces. As least they have some astestic to go with them. I guess?

Known as Distant Harmony, they are intent on destroying Ebyssia and its inhabitants so they can create a supposedly better version of this world. Of course, today is no different.

Which brings us to our heroes.

A priest is barking orders, heavy mace in hand. Blessed in the light of Pelor, Rune had a tendency to get on the deity's bad side. Which he most definitely deserves, for his tendency to mouth off to those with divine powers. Which will sooner or later backfire in some spectactular fashion. Just he wait. 

“Hold still, Toko.” Rune mutters, trying his best to bless his co-worker/’hetersoexual life-partner’.  The titular Toko appears to be a human (like Rune) and a fighter (unlike Rune), with a large halberd. For as strong as he was, there were some mental scars. Not that he really showed it.

Once all revved up, he charged forth and slammed his weapon into a crowd. While he's doing that, a half-orc is pumping himself up. His greatsword is keeping watch, occasionally making a face towards the enemy as what looks to be a sulfur-spewing wolf. Because why not I guess? Whatever the case, his rage is 

Preperations now complete, he charges forward. Weapon now pulled back, they join Toko in tearing apart

That's Quilik. By no means the golden pillar of good, he made short work of anyone Distant Harmony threw the party’s way. Of course, one of the party’s other tank, Samuel the half-demon something or other was meditating in the back. Once he was all done with that, he charged past the two to deliver a series of stunning blows.

Up above, a purple wyvern soars through the air, its passenger a young elven girl dressed like a princess but is definitely not a princess. Her name is Whip. She a warlock/dragonkith. Yes, you read that right. So what if they maybe get ‘one’ sorcerer spell. That shouldn’t stop them from all the meager benefits the class gets.

Of course, that didn’t explain why there was a halfling with a gun that fires lodestones.

“You still in there, Cherra?” Whip called out.

Cherra flashed a thumbs-up and carefully aimed her gun, firing it right after into a bolt of energy from our resident sorcerer, Kril. Yes, that’s his name. Don’t blame me. He’s being backed up by his ‘friend’ Mae. Who might not like him and want him dead or something. Heck if I know.

While that was happening, the party’s two rogues, Fae the elf and MeeMee the slimegirl 'thing' respectively were being… rogues, pretty much. Though, does using a pair of animated cat plushies to stab stuff the same as stealthily shooting people with a crossbow? Maybe.

Oh yeah. There’s a church there as well, with a couple of dogs in there as well.

“Hi there!” the church announces. “I’m a church!”

Why yes you are, Church-kun.

Church-kun I guess blushes, only for his table door to swing open and a succubus pops her head out. For some reason, she’s carrying a weird collapsible bow. That she fires without really taking the time to be certain that she’s actually going to hit something. She did for the record. Oh right. I should probably introduce her as well.

That would be Crimson… Heart, I believe. Though, I think that last name is her girlfriend’s or something. Considering said girlfriend is an archfey or something, I believe she’s fine with it.

There’s also a bunch of other side characters, just let me shift the camera to the right.

The imaginary camera you’re viewing this all through, revealing an older guy and a weirdly dressed warforged. And that’s on top of an archfey, who is most likely the deity referenced earlier.

“We’re here as well.”

A bunch of gods as well. Too many to really list off and stuff. Especially since they all get handled individually. Maybe.

Oh right. Then there is me, the narrator of all this. While they’re a rough bunch, it’s quite a lot of fun. Much like the tales you’ll find inside of he-

“Wait!”

The camera swivels back around, revealing a woman dressed in an orange and blue jester costume with a matching court jester hat.

“You forgot about Jestery!” the woman announces. “How rude. Jestery thought the narrator was better than that!”

Sorry. This is Jestery. She’s a handful.

For real this time, that’s everyone. I hope. Knowing my luck, someone new is bound to show up. But oh well.

Right on cue, a different-looking warforged. A monk.

That's Atoll. Guardian Atoll.

He's something or other.

"Wait up guys!"

I feel like I'm missing one or two people. If it comes to me, I'll add it.


	26. Tale of Korlia

‘Wake up, my child.’

In a field on the outskirts of Wyvos, war raged on.

Wyverns swooped down on unsuspecting clerics and their deities, as they tried to dispatch this troubling threat.

“Don’t leave me Anna!”

A succubus lays in the dirt, trying her best to hide her tears as they cradle what remains of a holy symbol.

“I’m sorry.” their friend answered and reached out for one more hug. They don’t make it.

All around her and the other clergy stationed here, it’s a similar story. Everything about this was a trap, one they all should’ve seen coming a mile away. But they were robbed blind by a temptress, their true objective unknown. Truly fucking wonderful.

“Get away from me!”

Which bring us to Korlia, who is currently trying her best to make heads or tails of all of this. She’s failing miserably by the way. But that’s to be expected

“Eat this!” she screamed and slammed her halberd into the beast to knock it away. Then it’s a short run to a nearby rock. Sure, her armor and its everbright blessing would protect her somewhat from the wyvern's acid attacks. But only for so long, making it the least of her worries at the moment.

“Please don't hurt me.” a wyvern whispered and forcing the valkyrie to take a cautious step back. While they looked badly hurt, there was no telling how well they could still fight. Let alone against 

“Why not?”

The wyvern reveals a purple wyvern egg. While not quite hatched yet, the wyvling would break through and find itself in a new world. Possibly one decided by this very battle.

“This is my child.” the wyvern explains, cradling the egg as best they could. “I didn't intend to get stuck in the middle of a battlefield. Could you help me reach the outskirts of this place by any chance?”

Korlia sighed. Everything about this felt like a trap, but there had to be some grain of truth to it. Though that did raise the obvious question in this situation. Like why a wyvern of all things would be so willing to talk to the enemy. Let alone when the battle was far from being over.

So she took a deep breath and stepped towards the wyvern.

“Is there someone I can hand the egg off to just in case you die?” Korlia inquired and watched the wyvern shake his head. “Then can I take the egg to a safe place?”

The wyvern nods and hands the egg over, watching the valkyrie carefully grab hold.

“Please be safe.” the wyvern whispered and let their eyes slide shut. Possibly for the last time.

“I'll get your egg out of here.” Korlia whispered and headed off. Which was easier said than done. Since you know, there's a war going on right in front of her.

But the valkyrie headed onwards, weaving her way about a mix of clergy, paladins and wyverns. Two of the three bringing forth their prayers while the latter was just happy to chomp down on whatever showed up in their vicinity. Especially with the three stories tall wyverns. Those just wait for their targets to climb their way up and gobble them whole. You would think they just go for the legs. But wyvern hide as it turns out, is a whole lot stronger than you would think it would be. The only real weak spot was high above on the necks and couldn't be easily pierced with arrows. If she wasn't holding this wyvern egg, Korlia would've probably charged up one of those wyvern and been up there helping her fellow clergy. Or trying to rescue as many people as she could. As was the way of a Berronar Valkyrie. Sure, she looked like a drow, but there was just as much dwarven blood running through her as the rest of her unit.

But our monologue is cut off by a scream from nearby.

“A little help here!” a dwarf announced, forcing our valkyrie's attention over to him. While she didn't quite recognize what church they were from, this dwarf had managed to get both of their foot trapped under a very small root.

“Crud.” Korlia muttered to herself and ran on over, cradling the egg to the best of her abilities as she charged towards her comrade.

Things were not quite as they appeared, sadly. As Korlia reached her destination, a large ice spike slammed into her body and knocked her to the ground. She didn't drop the egg though. Which I guess is a plus.

Her attention then  turns to the caster, a massive ice elemental of all things. A smile hangs widely on their face, the sort one expects on a killer. Let alone a potential goddess.

“Oh. So you noticed your friend here.” the elemental announced as the trapped dwarf got out, mumbling curses as he fled. “It truly be a shame if someone were to notice me being near you. Especially after you went through all the trouble to protect that egg.”

Korlia raised her halberd and attempted to stand back up. It wasn't enough to bring an end to this wicked thing. 

Her reward was more pain in the form of a foot stomp from her opponent. While our valkyrie would survive, she did black out right after.

‘I'm sorry this took so long.’

All around Korlia, war raged on. Wyverns swooped down on unsuspecting clerics and their deities, as they tried to dispatch this troubling threat.

In front of her, a priestess was melting to their death. Their succubus friend did their best to delay a possibly agonizing end, but there was no saving her. Which was far better than the fate of others - being eaten alive along with their holy symbols.

“Get away from me!”

Having gotten lost in thought and possibly overwhelmed by all that was going on around her, Korlia had been caught by surprise. Well, it seemed that way at least. 

“Eat this!” she screamed, slamming her halberd into the beast and knocked it away. She then ran for a nearby rock, trying her best to resist looking behind her. Sure, her armor and its blessing would protect her somewhat from the wyvern's acid attacks. But only for so long.

“Please don't hurt me, little drow.” a wyvern whispered and forced the valkyrie to take a cautious step back. While the wyvern looked badly hurt, there was no telling how well they could still fight.

“Why not?”

The wyvern reveals an egg, a purple one.

“This egg is my child.” the creature explains, cradling it as best they could. “I didn't intend to get stuck in the middle of a battlefield. Could you help me reach the outskirts of this place?”

Korlia sighed. Everything about this felt like a trap, but there had to be a grain of truth to it. Though that did raise the obvious question in regards to this situation. So she took a deep breath and stepped towards the wyvern.

“Is there someone I can hand the egg off to just in case you die?” Korlia inquired and watched the wyvern shake his head. “Then can I take the egg to a safe place?”

The wyvern hands the egg over, watch the drow grab hold.

“I'll get this egg out of here.” Korlia explained and carefully headed off. Which was easier said than done. Since you know, there's a war going on right in front of her.

But the valkyrie headed onwards, weaving her way about a mix of clergy, paladins and wyverns. Two of the three bringing forth their prayers while the latter was just happy to chomp down on whatever showed up in their vicinity. Especially the wyverns who are three stories tall and stuff. Those just wait for their targets to climb their way up and gobble them whole. You would think they just go for the legs. But wyvern jude as it turns out, is a whole lot stronger than you would think it would be. The only real weak spot was high above and couldn't be easily pierced with arrows. If she wasn't holding this wyvern egg, Korlia would've charged up that wyvern and been up there helping them. Or trying to rescue as many people as she could. As was the way of a Berronar Valkyrie. Sure, she looked like a drow, but there was just as much dwarven blood running through her. You get the idea.

“A little help here!” a dwarf announced, forcing our valkyrie's attention over to him. While she didn't quite recognize what church they were from, the dwarf had managed to get his foot trapped under a very small root.

“Crud.” Korlia muttered to herself and ran on over, cradling the egg to the best of her abilities as she charged towards her comrade.

Things were sadly not quite as they seemed, sadly. As Korlia reached her destination, a large ice spike slammed into her. Her attention turns to the caster, a massive ice elemental. They have a smile on their face, the sort one expects on a killer. Let alone a goddess.

“Oh. So you noticed your friend here.” the elemental announced as the dwarf got out, mumbling curses in that direction. “It truly be a shame if someone were to notice you.”

What followed, was this unknown deity slamming Korlia into the ground and the valkyrie blacking out. 

‘Tomorrow has finally come, just 400 years later.’

Korlia finds herself back on that battlefield once again.gain.

The woman still gets melted to death, her succubus lover taking the only thing that remained - her holy symbol. The priests were still getting eaten alive. All that stuff. Oh and some goddess had been reduced to nothing more than a bumbling midget of a child. How they managed to get over here I’m not entirely certain.

“Of course I’ll take your egg.” the valkyrie whispered and grabbed hold of the egg. This time, she had made sure to stay as far away from the supposed ice elemental as she could. But it was a futile endeavor. Try as might, they would find her. She would find some new way to get her.

“Do you really think your pitiful life is worth risking over one egg?” the ice elemental screeched, only to watch her opponent scurry off to the side. “Oh. do I scare you? Waa. You would male for a pathetic mom, let alone a frost giant.”

But Korlia wasn’t listening. Instead, she was looking for something, anything to rid herself of this beast.

So she found a rock and set the egg down. But instead of aiming for her opponent, the rock scored a direct hit on a nearby wyvern. Who promptly noticed the ice elemental and let it’s acid out on full blast.

“I did it.” Korlia whispered, returning her hands away from her weapons to the egg. It was just a little bit further. Then it would be freedom. For both her and this possible wyrmling. But as the valkyrie reached her goal, bright light filled her vision and she fell to the ground.

.

When any sense of vision did return to her, she found herself staring down her deity… and a lady dressed in white of all people.

“Yes Berronar?” Korlia whispered, finding the wyvern egg gone. After, she let her gaze fixate on the two women. While she understood the reasoning for the dwarven goddess to be there. This mystery person intrigued her. There was something otherworldly about them, almost alien. But at the same time, calm and warm. But that didn't explain why they went for a mostly white dress with green ribbon sewn in for good measure.

“I have a task for you to accomplish, my child.” Berronar whispered and watched her sole clergy member sit up. A part of her wishes that there was another way. But to some extent, there wasn’t. If Distant Harmony was on a collision course with this place to some extent, any advantage would make all the difference in the world.

“What is it?”

She gets a deep breath.

“I need you to bring back some dragons to Ebyssia.” Berronar continued, as the lady with her approached the valkyrie. “She will take you to this ‘aqua world’.”

Korlia nods and got up from her makeshift bed. She gives the area around her one last examination. While Berronar's ‘temple’ was close to the dragon district of Ragnis, that didn't mean that it needed to be treated just like that. Whatever the reason, there was little time to lose.

“I'm ready.” the valkyrie whispered and carefully reached for the lady's hand. “Do you have a name, by any chance?”

All that got her was a head shake and some hand motions from the currently empty hand. None of which Korlia understood. Yet, she gave a nod as everything began to swirl around her.

.

As for the wyvern egg that she saved, well…

The male wyvern that hatched from it lived a quiet and mostly normal life. He liked elves, but never had the confidence to truly pursue one when breeding season came around.

So he settled for what he thought was a bit of a regular old wyvern lady, passing away after choking on his daughter’s egg, making him the only causality that particular year. Then it turned out the mother had disappeared, turning into a bird of all things,

That left their child to be raised all about wyvos itself. The result was someone who wanted nothing to do with the city, eventually ending up in the hands of a certain elvish girl. I wonder who that could be?


	27. Moo, Cluck, Oink Oink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A diet of veggies and fruit is not enough to feed a group of workers.
> 
> Or Petal and Aliza bond and pick up someone new.

Things were going remarkably good for Aliza, Petal and their ‘company’ of grunts at Anchaged Fortress.

Even with the ‘modest’ budget of 15 gp, they had somehow managed to get the start of additional quarters for everyone, on top of continued work on the warlock cafe among other things mentioned in the past. But there were some things that needed to be bought and/or scavenged, which looked to be the purpose of this particular trip.

“Ready to head for Wyvos?” Aliza announced, watching his warlock companion follow right behind to their carriage.

“Yep.” Petal remarked as she got her cloak ready. While such secrecy was not really part of the plan (their cargo was more than enough to do that). “Though, are you certain that there are no horses in the immediate area we can use?”

Aliza took a deep breath. 

“The only people that I know who have them aren't in the nearby vicinity.” Aliza answered as he closed his eyes, making a group of horses appear. “Good. That will work.”

The horses disappeared right as Petal got behind the carriage.

“Not going to lie, this seems inefficient.” the warforged warlock remarked and got a chuckle from her partner in crime.

“Once we have the livestock, we'll just have them pull things back.” Aliza answered and closed his eyes once more. The horses reappeared, this time occasionally neighing or stomping a foot on the dirt. If not for the fact that none of the horses were making any footprints in the dirt, you would probably believe that these were the real deal. 

“By the time we get back, there better be a proper set of animal pens.” Petal explained and turned her attention to the back of the carriage. Her initial push was quite impressive, pushing Aliza and his horses quite a bit faster than he was expecting. But the illusionist corrects to the best of his abilities. Of course, that also means that Petal has to run back up to the cart. I guess neither of them thought this plan all the way through.

Whatever the case, the pair were heading off to the city of wyverns in search of some livestock. A cow or even a chicken couldn't cost that much, right?

“It feels weird not to be in Anchaged.” Petal remarked, commenting more towards the air than anyone in particular. While she would've preferred to be up with Aliza having a nice chat about… something or other, that could be for the ride home. For now, her focus needed to be on pushing the carriage. Which was definitely not going a speed anywhere close to a horse. Not that such fact really mattered to anyone in the general vicinity.

Eventually, the sound of carnival music of all things began to sneak through the silence of the open plains. Well, outside of the occasional swear coming from Aliza's mouth that he tried to hide.

Wyvos looked to be in its usual mood. A wyvern and human couple had gotten into a bit of kissing bout, letting their scales get dirty for the sake of their love.

“Uh… should we let those two continue?” Petal remarked as they crossed on through. Once there, the horses disappeared and Aliza let his focus be on his companion.

“They should be alright.” he remarked, letting out a chuckle right after. “That does remind me of this one time. A friend of mine somehow caught the eye of a demon of all fucking things while stationed in part of the nine hells.”

Petal shot him a glance.

“When she had to leave, they said their goodbyes and she shipped off. But the demon decided that they didn’t want to be a demon or something.”

That just made the warforged even more confused. While she had heard stories from some of the other grunts of angels and sometimes mortals being tempted, but this was on a full-different story.

“That’s sounds… highly inefficient.”

Another chuckle.

“That’s love for ya.” Aliza answered and motioned for Petal to stop. “It’s that crazy little feeling, that emotion which makes you want to fight far beyond all the injustices, the fucking doubters for the sake of being next to the one you can’t live without. That’s true love. Takes time, whether that be a year, ten fucking years or a possible eternity. Doesn’t matter. As long as you hold that feeling in such a way the world can’t even extinguish it, you’re golden.”

He then got down from the carriage.

“I think I followed that.” the warforged answered as a cockroach attendant noticed their ride, taking the time to move it back.

“You don’t mind?” they ask and gets a pair of head shakes. “Understood.”

With that now solved, the duo made their way into the marketplace proper.

“Any plan B if we can’t find what we’re looking for?” Petal asked, watching Aliza look away. She had half expected him to break out into a swear-filled rant.

“I’m not fucking sure, to be honest with you.” the illusionist muttered as they passed a stand selling spiced lemonade of all things. Except I don’t think having limes in it makes it lemonade. Or that is supposed to cost 5000 gp. At all. “We’ll pass.”

They wyvern looked on as the duo made their way towards the livestock section of town. Which as one expects, had all sorts of cows, pigs and sheep. As long as they don’t piss any of them off, they should be alright.

The pair approached a nearby vendor. While the cockroach in question looked slightly less scruffy than say, that wyvern pair at the gates, they still had the aura of a used livestock salesman. Which considering the line of work you would be dealing with, probably isn’t saying much.

“We would like to buy some livestock.” Aliza explained as he dug into his pockets. Eventually, a bag of gold came out and was placed on the stall. “How much can 15 gp get us?”

The cockroach opened up the bag and looked the contents over.

“A cow and a couple pigs, tops.” the cockroach explained and pointed to a cow that looked like they could go at most a couple steps before collapsing from exhaustion alone. The pigs had maggots lining up to call dibs on who would get what particular part. “You can have the ones ri-”

Before that sentence could be finished, Petal slapped the cockroach.

“Good riddance, you slimy beast.” she muttered and caught a glance from Aliza. “He was scamming us anyhow.”

“Yes, but a slap ain't fucking enough.” the illusionist continued as his eyes slid shut. For a few brief seconds, what looked to be the grim reaper of all people and their scythe took the place of Aliza.  While it couldn't quite cause damage, it did scare the crud out of the cockroach.

“Okay, let me bring you two some animals.” the cockroach explained as Aliza changed back.” the merchant explained and ducked behind his stall. Which was probably code for, ‘I don’t want any part of you at the moment’. Or something along those lines. So they went over to the next stall.

“Don’t even think about it.” they both explained, eldritch blast and some sort of weapon illusion at the ready. If one had to take a guess, it looked to be a dagger.

“Sorry about my partner, he’s kind of an asshole.”

Aliza rolled his eyes.

“We fucking noticed.” the illusionist muttered. At this point, neither of them wanted any part of this. At all. “I just need a cow, a couple chickens and maybe a pig or two. Do you have that stuff?”

This cockroach pulled what looked to be a cow, a couple chickens and a pig from… somewhere. I’m fairly certain a number of laws were broken in that one interaction alone. The perfect opportunity for the dancer of Rinaz to swoop on in.   
“I must put you all under arrest.” the dancer remarked and jumped down from his board. He didn’t look too happy. But that wasn’t anything new. “I need you to hand over that livestock.”

But someone had other ideas, judging by the flapping of wings 

“They’re with me, so begone.” Apocalypse announced, turning his attention to the pair. “Get your livestock and go.”

Aliza gave a nod, grabbing the rope that came with the cow. Petal on the other hand grabbed the pig and chickens. Sheep could be for another day.

So the pair made their way back towards their carriage. While it had been parked nearby, it had the added difficulty of everyone possibly wanting to kill them. Since you know, they brought no less than two dancers into the marketplace. One of which was possibly far too big for that particular area of town.

Thankfully, their carriage had been parked nearby by a cockroach.

“Well,” Petal remarked as she carefully strapped in the chicken and pigs. “That could’ve gone far better.”

Aliza let put a chuckle, his attention now on strapping in the cow so they could head off.

“That the story of my fucking life.” the illusionist responded, looking up towards the roof.  But when he found nothing, it was back to hitching up the cow. Once that was done, he made his way up into the pair and got himself seated in the front with the reins. “You did good.”

Petal did a double take, only to nod right after.

“So, whatever did happen to the pair?” Petal inquired as their bovine trotted forward. While not as efficient as their push technique from earlier, it allowed for proper conversations between the duo.

“Last I heard, they had a daughter who joined up with Distant Harmony.” Aliza answered as the sound of scurrying erupted on the top of the carriage. “Now what?”

Carefully, the illusionist poked his head out, finding a young tiefling poking their head in. Their skin was a nice shade of cream, with the titular set of horns. Which outside of that, would allow them to pass as a human

“And you are?” Aliza continued and got a bit of a look.

“Well I came from Flotsam and all my teammates are probably dead...” the child explained, having probably lied about their age to join this truly wonderful organization. “So, my name is Felice!”

Aliza took a deep breath, the pair helping their latest arrival down.

“Welcome aboard.” he muttered.

Why do I think there’s a joke in there that went over their head here? Oh well.


End file.
